THE SCAVENGERS
by Donna McIntosh
Summary: Only three survivors left after a storm wipes out most of Wyoming - Jack Twist, Mrs. Twist, and Ennis del Mar. This is the story of their survival.


THE SCAVENGERS

Author: Donna McIntosh

Fandom: Brokeback Mountain

Genre: Slash

Rating: Adult

Disclaimer: I make no money from these stories. These characters belong to Annie Proulx. I just let them have a little more fun than she did.

Beta: The best beta there ever was, Mike! Thank you Mike, for all you do!

CHAPTER ONE

September 1984

Jack led one horse and Ennis led the other as they exited the veterinarian's. Mrs. Twist was coming toward them across the parking lot, returning from the library a block away, when suddenly the sky darkened and the wind began to blow.

"Looks like we got a storm comin in." Jack said to Ennis as he reached out toward his mom. "Hurry Momma. Storm's comin."

Ennis was trying to open the back of the trailer, when the wind began to gust ferociously. The horses shied as Jack and Ennis tried to hold onto them while the howling wind got worse and worse, whirling in all directions.

Mrs. Twist faltered, stumbled, and nearly fell. Jack let go of the horse he was leading and hurried to his mom. He struggled to get the truck door open, and managed to shove her inside. "C'mon, Ennis. Let him go. We'll catch 'em later. Get inside. Hurry!"

Ennis let his horse go, and with his head down against the wind, he made it to the cab, struggled to get the door open, and climbed in; the wind slammed the door shut after him. They only had seconds before the truck began moving sideways. Jack and Ennis both grabbed Mrs. Twist, and the three of them clung together as the truck slipped, and spun, then skidded sideways before stopping with a crash, in a ditch. The complete blackness, the roar of the storm, the screeching of rending metal, and the crashing of broken glass left the three of them addled for a moment.

When they dared to open their eyes, it was quiet and light again. Whatever it was had passed and the three of them checked each other out; happy to find there were no significant damages. A few scrapes and bruises, but that was about all. Ennis came to his senses first, and climbed out the opening where the windshield had been. He looked around for a moment before reaching a hand in to help Mrs. Twist, then Jack climb out. The three of them stood on the hood of the truck and looked around. It was totally silent. Not a sound could be heard.

"You'd think they'd be soundin the storm sirens." Jack commented.

"It come up too fast." Mrs. Twist said. "They didn't have time."

Ennis climbed up the side of the bank, reached down and helped Mrs. Twist, and then Jack. Once all three of them were on top, they surveyed the area. Complete and utter shock engulfed them. The entire town of Gillette was nothing but rubble.

Mrs. Twist was the first to speak as the three of them scanned the area. "Oh my goodness. What do we do now?"

"I don't know, Momma." Jack shook his aching head.

"It ain't right." Ennis mumbled more to himself than to the others. "It don't make no sense."

"What do you think happened? Was it a tornado?" Mrs. Twist asked as the three of them gazed in shock at the decimated town around them.

"What're you thinkin, Ennis?" Mrs. Twist asked.

Jack and his mother both turned to Ennis who had been standing a short distance from them, and staring silently around the area.

"We need to find a telephone; call people, and tell 'em what happened." Ennis answered and started walking. Jack and Mrs. Twist followed along behind him.

They walked for hours, but didn't find anyone, or a working telephone. They stopped to rest in the town square beside the no longer working fountain that was now a pile of broken pieces of concrete.

"What I don't understand is where every one is?" Mrs. Twist asked. "There must have been other survivors besides us."

"We got no way a knowin, or findin out about what happened right now." Ennis said. "What we need to put our minds to, is where do we go from here?"

Jack shook his head. "It's not exactly like we got many choices here, being afoot and all."

"And with no phones, we can't call for help." Mrs. Twist added.

"I wonder where the horses are. I hope they're all right." Jack wondered aloud.

"Probably half way back to the ranch by now." Ennis said, glad that they were loose, and not in the mangled horse trailer in the ditch.

"What do we do now?" Jack asked with a quiet, defeated shrug.

"We keep goin, keep lookin." Ennis' expression clearly mirrored Jack's. Neither of them knew what to do.

"We need to sit and rest; at least for a few minutes." Mrs. Twist said, and found a place to sit down on a large flat piece of broken concrete.

"We can't just keep on walkin." Jack protested. "We gotta do somethin."

"You're right." Ennis nodded. "The time for sight-seein is done." He walked over to where several cars were piled up on, or smashed against, one another. He forced a door open, and climbed in. He rummaged around a bit before coming back out empty handed. Jack helped him get into the next car that was on it's side.

"Here." Ennis crawled out carrying a half empty bottle of water. "Take this to your momma."

Jack took the bottle, hurried back to where she was sitting, and handed it to her.

"Ohhh, thank you!" She removed the cap and took a long swallow before handing it back to Jack.

"No, it's for you, Momma. Drink it."

"I won't take another swallow until you have some, and Ennis as well."

Ennis had just walked up with a Little Mermaid blanket and wrapped it around Mrs. Twist.

"Thank you, Ennis. Now you and Jackie drink what's left of that water."

They looked at one another, and for the first time noticed each other's haggard appearances. They were in desperate need, and they knew it. Jack handed the bottle to Ennis.

"You first." Ennis insisted.

Jack up-ended the bottle, took a drink, and again handed it to Ennis.

He took it this time and drank.

An icy cold blast of wind silenced them all for a moment before Ennis finally put his thoughts to words. "We got a find us some kind a shelter. We don't wanna be out in the open if it starts up again."

"But there's nothin here." Jack protested. "We been all over this town, and there's nothin left standin."

"We've been all over these main streets close to the square. We need to look a little further out, keep walkin until we come to someone we can report all a this to. Then we need to find us some transportation." Ennis said. "And if we can't find nothin or no one, we best get ourselves busy and build us some kind a shelter."

"But that's nonsense!" Mrs. Twist argued. "Surely they'll send someone in soon to look after any survivors."

"And if they don't?" Ennis asked.

Jack and his mom were both stunned into silence. They had no answer to that.

"How could we possibly build anything, and what with? I know you've had experience building some things, but it takes materials and tools." Jack gestured around the square. "There's nothin left but rubble."

"Then we work with the rubble." Ennis answered simply.

"If we're gonna build somethin, shouldn't we do it back at the ranch?" Mrs. Twist asked. "I mean, this ain't our land. We could get in trouble buildin somethin on city property."

"Yeah, at least out at the ranch we got the well, and there's the old hand pump out by the barn that I'll bet still works." Jack offered. "And if the house and barn are both gone, we ought to be able to come up with enough pieces a wood to put some kind a shelter together. At least somethin to keep the wind off."

"And it's possible that the tornado, or whatever it was, might even have missed the ranch." Mrs. Twist said.

"You two are forgettin the ranch is a good forty-five miles north a here. That's a long walk. It'd take us days to walk it; and what if we got all the way out there, and it's in the same shape as Gillette?"

Both Twists were silent for a spell.

"And it ain't just a matter a findin enough pieces a wood, or even the water pump, Jack. We need a whole lot a other stuff too. In order for us to survive, we're gonna have to become scavengers."

"Scavengers? Oh, I don't like the sound of that." Mrs. Twist frowned.

"Surely they'll send someone in to help." Jack scowled. "I mean, it's been hours. Shouldn't there be someone comin around by now to see about survivors?"

"I been thinkin the same thing. We should a heard somethin by now... If we're gonna." Ennis said, turned, and took a few steps away. He couldn't bear to face them at the moment. He didn't want either of them to see how scared he was.

"How is stayin here in Gillette goin to help us get any food? Everythin is down. There ain't a buildin left standin." Jack asked.

Ennis turned to glance around the square again. "You know what I noticed? There ain't been no fires. Nothin's wet. It don't seem like there was any rain – just all a that wind. Nothin looks like it exploded or anythin. It all looks like it... fell down, collapsed."

Jack and Mrs. Twist both took another look around the decimated town square.

"So? It's still all down." Jack reminded him.

"So we need to get busy diggin." Ennis answered.

"Diggin?" Jack and Mrs. Twist both said at the same time.

"See all them grocery carts over there?" Ennis pointed across the square. "I think that's where that Safeway stood. If we start diggin right there, I'll bet we'll find us all kinds a canned goods; probably some bottled water too."

Jack stared at the over-turned grocery carts for a moment.

"It'll take some time, and a lot a work, but I think that's our best bet for right now." Ennis said. "We can work our way down through the debris, save any large chunks a wood we come to for our shelter."

"What do you plan on diggin with?" Jack asked.

"Our hands!" Ennis answered, pulling on his gloves as he started toward the debris.

They worked for an hour before stopping. "We're gettin nowhere fast." Jack complained.

"It's these darn roof beams. They're too heavy to move." Ennis agreed.

"Would this help?" Mrs. Twist handed them a crowbar and a hammer.

"Where did you get those?" Jack and Ennis asked at the same time.

"That pickup over there. The tool box on the back was partly open, and some tools were fallin out. I managed to get it the rest a the way open and found these. I thought they might help."

"Momma, you're an angel!" Jack hugged her.

"A very smart angel." Ennis grinned. "I think we been goin at this all wrong." He said reaching for the tools before heading over to the open tool box where he rummaged around a bit. He pulled out a few more items before approaching a nearby station wagon that was on it's side. He placed the crowbar against the trunk lock, hit it with a hammer, and the lock popped in. He opened the trunk easily, and pulled out a twenty-four pack of water. He got three loose, and handed one to each of them. "All a these cars here in this bunch probably been shoppin here at Safeway." He added after finishing off his bottle.

"Or they might a just pulled in." Jack reminded him.

"Could be. What do you say we take a look."

"We might get in trouble, damagin people's cars." Mrs. Twist warned them.

"Look at these vehicles, Momma. They're already totaled. What difference can it make if we damage them a little bit more? And if anyone comes lookin for their groceries, I'll pay for 'em."

"Well... when you're right, you're right. I guess it can't matter any." Mrs. Twist sighed, and watched as Jack and Ennis broke into car after car.

After several vehicles, Jack called out, "Over here!" The car he was working on, had several bags of groceries.

Ennis climbed out of a car carrying a flashlight; switching it on and off to make sure it worked, before joining the others.

"Oh, lunch meat!" Mrs. Twist dug out the package of bologna.

"Here's some bread." Jack handed her the loaf.

In minutes they were hungrily finishing off their sandwiches.

"What I don't understand is why nobody has come around." Mrs. Twist said. "We left the vet's office about ten this mornin, and it's nearly four o'clock. _Someone_ should have come around by now."

"I been thinkin the same thing, Momma." Jack reached for his cigarettes in his shirt pocket, and found them missing. "I wonder just how far out this destruction goes?"

"We been clear to the edge a town and back, and didn't find nothin standin." Ennis offered. "And since no one's been in to check for survivors, I'm guessin this entire area is down."

"Even so, others must have heard about it; maybe in Buffalo or Sheridan. Someone should have come by now." Mrs. Twist said.

"I been thinkin the same thing, Momma. You'd think there'd be airplanes flyin over; helicopters lookin for signs of life; but there's nothin."

"I never heard of a storm that could take out an entire town. At least not a town the size of Gillette." She said leaning her head against her son's shoulder.

Jack put his arm around her, and not knowing what to do next, he looked to Ennis.

"It's gonna be dark in a couple hours." Ennis said. "Come on. I think I know where we can find shelter, at least for the night."

They loaded up their groceries and tools in the shopping carts, and headed out.

"Where we goin?" Jack asked as they walked. "We didn't see nothin that was still standin."

"Bus Depot." Ennis answered.

"But the Depot was down. And all a those buses were crashed." Mrs. Twist reminded him.

"Two of 'em were crashed together, but one was upright." Ennis said.

"Yeah, but didn't that one have a pickup crashed through its windshield?" Jack asked.

"It did. But I'm thinkin we might could get that back door open enough for us to get inside, and out a this cold wind. It'll be dark soon, and even colder; so it's either the bus, or one a these smashed up cars."

"There'll be a lot more room if we can get in the bus." Jack agreed.

"It'll be so good to get in out a the wind." Mrs. Twist said as they approached the bus station. "I don't recall it ever bein this cold in September. I don't suppose anyone will mind if we wait in the bus."

"Holy Cow!" Jack said as they got to the bus. "That pickup took out the whole front end a that bus."

"It don't matter." Ennis began working on forcing the back door of the bus open. "It ain't like we're gonna be tryin to drive it."

The September sun was setting, and it was getting colder by the hour, but the door finally gave way to their combined efforts. Ennis entered first, looked around, then nodded to Jack that it was all right to bring his mom in. By the time Jack got the groceries, and his mom in and settled in a seat, Ennis had found someone's back pack, and stuck it in the one area in the front where the wind was blowing in. It was still cold, but at least they were out of the wind. As he made his way to the back of the bus, he stopped at each seat along the way, to see if there was anything he thought they could use. He found one large coat, and brought it to the back.

"Here; put this on." He handed Mrs. Twist a nice warm full-length coat, and she slipped into it immediately.

"Oh thank you! It's so nice and warm." She pulled it close around her, buttoning it all the way down.

"This is nice, Ennis." Jack said as he helped his mom button up. "I'm so glad you thought of it."

"The bus station is probably one of the first places they'll check when they come. I'm sure they'll be here by mornin." Mrs. Twist smiled with confidence. "We'll be quite comfortable here until then."

Ennis said nothing, and turned away, fumbling with a seat a short distance away. He had a terrible feeling in his gut that rescue for them was _not_ quite that near.

"What're you doin?" Jack came over and asked.

"I know these seats fold back some. I'm tryin to figure out how we can make them fold all the way back so we can fix a bed for your momma; and a couple for us."

Jack knelt down beside him. "Looks like that bolt right there is keepin it from goin back any further.

"Yeah, that's what I'm thinkin. If we could just remove that bolt... but I can't with just this little pair of pliers we got."

"We gotta find some better tools to work with. Did you see a tool box anywhere up front by the driver's seat?"

"Nah. But a vehicle this size ought to have one."

"Maybe it's in the luggage compartment." Mrs. Twist had walked up behind them.

"That's right!" Jack said.

The two of them went back outside, carrying what tools they had, and got to work on the luggage compartment door. It took very little work to open it, once the lock was broken. When they opened the door, lights came on. In the back, behind the fifty or so suitcases, they spotted the tool box. Ennis climbed in, shoving suitcases out of the way until he managed to reach it, and dragged it back out.

Jack began picking up some of the smaller bags. When Ennis gave him a questioning glance, Jack replied, "When we get that bolt out and those seats go back, they might go all the way back down to the floor. If we stick a suitcase under it, it should hold it level with the seat behind it to make a nice sized bed."

"Good idea." Ennis gave him a nod.

When they came inside again, the lights were on, and Mrs. Twist was all excited. "It was getting darker so I tried the light over where the two a you were workin, and it came right on."

"They must run off the battery." Jack said as he and Ennis got back to work.

In minutes, they had the long bolt out, and both seats, sitting side by side, folded all the way flat. Jack was right, they needed to place the small suitcases under them to keep them level with the next seat so they'd have a nice long comfortable place to lie down. They hurried back outside and got more small suitcases, came back in, and fixed two more beds.

"You're just not gonna believe what I found!" Mrs. Twist had been exploring while the men worked.

"What did you find, Momma?" Jack asked as they continued working.

"A bathroom!"

"A bathroom? You kiddin?" Jack gave her his full attention now.

"No, I'm not kidding. My friend, Marilyn took a bus trip a few years back, and she told me all about it. I remember her sayin there was a little bathroom at the back. So while the two a you were workin, I went explorin and found it!"

"We got a proper bathroom!" Ennis grinned as he chunked the tools back into the tool box, and shoved it back out of the way.

"We do!" Mrs. Twist grinned. "And thanks to you boys hard work, we now have proper beds to sleep in!"

"Well, we'll be able to stretch out all right, but I don't know how comfortable we'll be without any pillows or blankets." Ennis commented.

"We should go through all these overhead compartments. We might find some; or maybe some more coats." Jack suggested.

"Well, I have this nice warm coat, so one a you should take this blanket." She offered them the Little Mermaid blanket they had found earlier.

"No, Momma; you hold on to that." Jack insisted.

"I saw some smaller jackets back there. I guess we could cover up some with those, or maybe wad 'em up and use 'em for pillows." Ennis suggested.

"Let's see what we can find." Jack led the way, as far up front as they could go, where they began a thorough search of the overhead compartments, the seats, and the floor. When they returned to where Mrs. Twist was sitting on the side of her 'bed' waiting for them, each was carrying a double arm full of small carry-on bags, jackets, snacks, and reading materials which they dumped on the bed beside her.

"Oh dear! You suppose it'd be all right if we use these things? I mean... they don't belong to us."

"We're just borrowin this stuff, Momma. We'll give it all back in the mornin when the rescuers get here. And any food we eat, I'll pay for. I promise, so eat whatever you want."

"It'll be all right." Ennis assured her.

"I been thinkin about somethin for dinner. I don't s'pose either a you have a can opener on you; do you?" She asked as she sorted through the items they brought back.

"Nope," they both shook their heads.

"Those groceries we found; there's several cans of soup. I thought if we could get those cans open somehow, we wouldn't even have to worry about heatin it, and we could have that for dinner. Maybe add some of these snacks to go with it." She said.

"That's a good idea. Soup is mostly liquid. We could just drink it." Ennis said and went through the grocery bags until he found three cans of tomato soup. He pulled his jack-knife out, opened it, and wiped the blade on the inside of his shirt. He placed the can on the floor, placed the blade at the very edge, and struck it with the palm of his hand, then did the same thing on the other side, wiggling the blade back and forth making the second hole bigger. "Here." He handed the can to Mrs. Twist.

"Oh, you're so clever, Ennis. I never would have thought you could open a can with a jack-knife."

He opened the other two cans, and the three of them had dinner; each making a selection from the snacks they had found to go along with their soup. By the time dinner was over, it was completely dark outside. They cleared off Mrs. Twist bed so she could lie down. Took one of the small jackets they had found, rolled it up for a pillow, and with her Little Mermaid blanket, she was soon as comfortable as can be.

They looked around a little more, and found another coat, smaller than the other one. Ennis insisted that Jack take it to cover up with since the cold bothered him more than it did Ennis. Ennis used three smaller jackets. One over his shoulders, one across his hips, and one across his legs.

They were about to settle in for the night when Jack whispered, "Do you really think we'll be rescued tomorrow?"

"Jack... you want the truth?" Ennis whispered.

"Yes! What do you think?"

"I don't think anyone's comin in the mornin, or anytime after."

"Why do you say that? Surely they'll come... sooner or later." Jack said.

"I just got a gut feelin. I think we're on our own here." With that said, Ennis lay his head down, and tried to sleep. It wasn't easy, and it took him a good long while; but once he knew that both Jack and his mom were asleep, he finally drifted off.

CHAPTER TWO

Breakfast the next morning consisted of a large can of fruit-cocktail which they shared using one small plastic spoon they found, and rinsed off in the tiny bathroom. Each taking a bite in turn, then passing the can and spoon to the next until it was empty. The boys insisted that Mrs. T. have the remaining juice.

Mrs. Twist passed them each a bottle of water. "It's not coffee, but it's the best we got for now. I'm sure the rescuers will have some coffee with them when they arrive."

"That leaves us with just three bottles left after these." Jack commented.

Neither his mom nor Ennis said anything to that. She was convinced they would be rescued before they needed any more; Ennis was convinced of nothing, but a long, hard road ahead of them.

Mrs. Twist sat and began brushing her hair.

"Man, I wish I had a cigarette." Jack said as the two of them stepped outside to stretch their legs a bit.

"I wish I had a cup a coffee. I miss a cigarette too, but not as much as I miss my mornin coffee." Ennis said as once again they surveyed the destroyed city where only piles of rubble remained.

"What're we gonna do?" Jack gave Ennis a fearful look.

Ennis shrugged, "I don't know, Bud."

"Last night, you said you thought we were on our own." Jack said. "You don't believe anyone's gonna come lookin for survivors?"

Ennis looked down, as he shuffled his feet in the dirt. "I just feel like... if anyone was gonna come; they would have already. I don't know why I feel that way; I just do."

"Are they here? Did you hear somethin?" Mrs. Twist came hurrying out of the bus.

"No, Momma. We're just stretchin our legs." He gave her a weak smile, not wanting her to see his despair.

"It's almost nine. They should be here before long." She glanced at her watch.

"Yes, Momma. Before long." Jack said, and after a look from Ennis, he added, "Or maybe this afternoon."

But help didn't come. At lunch time, they each drank some chicken noodle soup, and half of their bottles of water.

"Momma, we can't wait any longer. We've got to get out and search for more food and water." Jack pleaded as he sat next to her on her bed with his arm around her.

"But Son... we need to stay here! If we're not here when they come, they'll pass us by; and we might never get rescued."

"How about the two a you stay here, and I go out lookin?" Ennis offered as he stood, cross legged, and leaning on the seat next to them.

"No!" Jack and his mom both said. "It's not safe!" Jack insisted. "If you go, we all go." And turning back to his mom, "Please, Momma!" as she sat wringing her hands with worry.

"How about this?" Ennis offered. "What if we keep the bus as our home ground, and only go out for an hour at a time, then we come right back here for a rest. That way no one will get too tired out, we'll have a safe place to keep whatever we find, and there's lots a vehicles around the area that we haven't checked out yet."

"That's a great idea; isn't it Momma?" Jack hoped to liven up his mom a bit as she seemed to be sinking lower and lower as the hours dragged by.

"That is a good idea." she admitted with a small smile. "We do need to find more food."

"That's my girl!" Jack pulled her to her feet as Ennis led the way outside.

"Here, take one a these grocery carts." Ennis pushed one over in front of her. "It'll help steady you some."

Jack and Ennis each took one of the grocery carts they had brought over the day before from the town square carrying their meager food supply. The carts, now empty, pushed easily along the concrete sidewalks, once Ennis led, and kicked the debris out of the way.

At each stop, they would work on getting the vehicles trunks open, before climbing inside, and trying to see if it worked. Not one did; but they did find a lot of odds and ends they could use. It was their second trip before Ennis came out of one car carrying a pillow and blanket. "I finally found somethin good!" He said as he handed the items to Mrs. Twist.

"Oh this is nice." She folded the blanket carefully and placed it in her cart that had only a few items in it.

"Oh wow! Look at this!" Jack called out.

The three of them gathered at the side door of a van, and saw a load of groceries packed in every available square inch of the back. It was a huge find! They were loading it all up when something across the street caught Ennis' eye, and he stopped and stared.

"What is it?" Jack asked.

"Look at the license plate on that blue pickup. It says. 'WE-HUNT'. He might have some gear."

The pickup was on it's side, but the back seat yielded a gold mine for them. Four sleeping bags, a tent, ice chest filled with beer, sodas, and hot dogs, a small propane camp stove, a box with cooking and eating utensils, a couple bags of groceries sitting on top of a twenty-four pack of water, and the very best thing of all, two rifles with extra ammunition.

While the guys were going over the guns, Mrs. Twist called out, "Look!" as she held up a can of coffee.

That was the end of their scavenging for the morning. They hurried back to the bus, unloaded everything, and set the camp stove up on a smooth flat place outside. The coffee pot was dug out, and coffee was made immediately. While it was perking, they went through the items found.

"Well this, and the groceries we found in that van, should keep us for sure until the rescuers get here." Mrs. Twist gave a satisfied grin; but didn't see the grim expressions exchanged by the men.

"You don't think there's going to be a rescue; do you?" Jack whispered to Ennis as he poured three cups of coffee.

"No; I don't." He answered. "Can't exactly say why; but I think we're on our own here."

They drank two cups of coffee each, and finished off a box of powdered donuts.

"Now we don't have to do any more stealin." Mrs. Twist announced as she finished eating.

"Momma, we ain't stealin!" Jack insisted.

"Takin stuff that don't belong to you is stealin, Jackie. I know it's what we have to do right now, under the unfortunate circumstances we find ourselves in; but we'll pay it all back, every single penny, just as soon as the rescuers get us out a here. Our bank is insured, so our account is safe, and soon as we can, we'll pay 'em all back."

They spent the night in the bus again; the next night, and next, and next until they had sat there a full week waiting.

"Momma, it's been a week. We can't sit here doin nothin any more."

"I guess no one's comin for us." Her voice trembled as she sat there, head down, hands twisting together in her lap. "There's _nothin_ we can do about it."

"Yes there is, and we're gonna do it." Ennis insisted. "We're gonna start walkin until we either find us a water source, or we walk out a this mess."

Jack and Ennis packed what was left of their supplies in the grocery carts, while Mrs. Twist scribbled a quick note, just in case any rescuers did eventually show up.

"Which way do we go?" Jack asked.

"We already went north to the edge a the city. How about we try west."

As they walked through the rubble strewn streets, Mrs. Twist chatted. "This was such a lovely little town. Not big and noisy, with too many cars, and too many people, like Casper. And so many old time families still around. Some have been here as long as we have; some even longer. I do hope the ranch is okay. You know, it's the only place I've ever lived. I can't imagine livin any where else." She went on and on. Jack and Ennis barely listened to her, each lost in his own thoughts of their desperate situation.

"Oh my God!" She stopped dead in her tracks. "I know where to go! I know where there's water!"

"Momma, there are no streams around here." Jack said as they all stopped.

"The Banks!" She sputtered as if that one word alone explained everything.

"The banks are all down." Ennis told her, thinking that maybe she had forgotten some of what they had seen.

"No; not the banks banks, but the Banks; the Banks family! The Banks place is out this way! I been out there a million times when I was a girl. Sylvia Banks and I were great friends."

"They got a stream on their place?" Jack asked.

"How far is it?" Ennis asked.

"A... no, Jackie; not a stream, but a hand pump at the back a their barn. Just like ours!" Then she turned to Ennis. "It's not but a mile or so past the city limit sign. We didn't never measure it, but Sylvia and I used to walk into town all the time. It's not far at all."

"Can you walk that far, Momma? We already been walkin an hour."

"I can walk!" she insisted.

"She gets tired, we can pick her up and put her in one a these grocery carts!" Ennis suggested.

"Oh you will not!" She laughed, her spirits rising by the minute. It was the first spark of life they had seen in her in days.

"When was the last time you were there, Momma." Jack asked as they resumed walking.

"Oh, it's been at least ten years or so since she passed away."

"You do know, the place is probably down like everything else." Ennis warned, not wanting her to get her hopes up too high.

"Yes, it probably is. Their place was about the same age as ours, and they never did maintain it much."

"And you think that old pump is still there?" Jack asked.

"It was last time I was there. That was where I always parked. Right out there facin the pump at the corner a the barn. As kids, in the summer time, we used to pump water and throw it at each other. We'd get empty cans out a the trash, rinse 'em out, fill 'em with water and throw it on each other. It was lots of screamin, squealin fun, until Sylvia's little brother Andy accidentally threw can and all and hit her in the face and split her lip." On and on she chattered until finally she came to a stop in front of an open gate.

"This is it!" she announced.

They stood for several seconds before starting up the driveway slowly. "There it is!" She called out several minutes later as they neared the remains of the barn.

"See? It's right there!"

Jack worked the handle several times and nothing happened. He gave the others a disappointed look.

"Keep pumpin." Ennis said. "These old pumps take a lot a convincin to give up their water."

Jack pumped several more times and finally, just as he was getting ready to quit again, a small bit of water was spit out. A little more vigorous pumping and the water began to gush.

"It works!" Mrs. Twist cried out. "I knew it would!"

Jack splashed some on his face, and flicked some at his mom.

"We've got water!" Jack said proudly.

"Yay!" they all hollered and took turns at the handle pumping away and spattering each other with water.

"Oh man, it tastes good!" Jack said after gulping down a double handful as Ennis pumped. "Even better than that bottled water."

"Well water is always the very best tastin there is." Mrs. Twist absolutely glowed watching everyone's delight. She was so proud that she thought of the Banks! "So now what's next, boys?" She asked. "You think there's enough wood around here to put together some kind a shelter?"

"I been thinkin about that, and I got an idea." Ennis said. "You know that construction site we passed at the edge a town?"

"Where they're buildin the new Walmart?" Mrs. Twist asked.

"Yeah. There was a whole lot a cinder blocks there. A ton of 'em." Ennis said. "That'd work even better than wood to fix us up a shelter."

"Yeah, but they're heavy as hell. How you plannin on getting 'em out here? Carry 'em in out grocery carts?" Jack asked.

"A little bit at a time." Ennis nodded. "We wouldn't have to build nothin big at first; just one room. Somethin big enough for us all to get in out a the weather. Then we can add on some rooms later on once we get enough cinder blocks carried out here. It'd be a lot safer than anythin we could put together with scraps a wood. And remember, we got no nails or screws to put anythin together properly."

"What about those blocks? Don't they need cement or somethin to stick 'em together?" Jack asked.

"With all them blocks stacked around, I'm sure there must be some mortar and rebar out there too." Ennis reasoned.

"You talk like you built with those cinder blocks before." Mrs. Twist noticed.

"I have. I worked one place where we built a big ole barn with 'em. The rancher had lost his barn twice; once to a storm, and once to a fire. He wanted somethin more solid, so he had a ton a cinder blocks shipped in, and that's what we built his barn with. I got lots a practice."

"It would take us... hundreds a trips back and forth to bring in enough blocks." Jack griped.

"I'll help. I made that walk with no trouble at all." Mrs. Twist offered.

"What about this?" Ennis offered. "We stay nights in town, in the bus; and make two trips out here in the morning, and two in the after noon."

"You think Momma is up to somethin like that?"

"I am!" She insisted. "And if I get tired, you can put me in one a these grocery carts and haul me around."

They all grinned at the thought, knowing she wouldn't allow that if it killed her.

"We'll rest up good in between trips, and make sure she doesn't over-do. If it's too much for her, we'll cut back to just two trips a day instead a four."

"Why don't we just set that tent up and stay out here?" Mrs. Twist suggested.

"We'd have to go into town the first thing in the mornin anyway for more cinder blocks. We might as well stay in the bus nights where we'll be comfortable." Ennis said.

"Okay, what about this." Jack bargained. "How about we do set the tent up out here. That way if we're too tired to walk back into town, we can stay here for the night, and she'll have it to rest in while you and me do the unloading. I don't want Momma handlin those cinder blocks. They're too heavy for her. Pushin a cart full, might not even be somethin she can handle. Did you think a that?"

"I did. We'll try it out and see." Ennis agreed. "I know she can't haul as much and you and I can, but even a few blocks each trip will add up. And there's mortar and rebar to carry. That probably won't be as heavy as the blocks. We'll just have to try and see what the three of us can carry, and get on with it."

"Even if we get no more than one wall up to block that north wind, it would be worth it." Mrs. Twist argued. "I'd feel a lot safer in a place made out a cinder blocks, than I would in one made out a scraps a wood that could blow down on us if another storm came."

"And we got no caulk to fill the spaces between the wood." Ennis added.

"All right, all right." Jack gave up. "I'll go along with whatever the two a you want. I gotta warn you though, I don't know nothin about workin with cinder blocks."

"There's nothin to it. Lots a hard work, but it's mostly grunt work. Nothin at all complicated about it." Ennis persuaded.

"Let's get goin then." Jack agreed.

CHAPTER THREE

The walk back to town seemed much easier than the walk out. They stopped at the construction site, had a good look around, and found exactly what Ennis had expected. Cinder blocks scattered all around, some in neat little stacks, others still banded together, stacks of mortar mix spilling out of the back of an over-turned truck, and at the backside of the twisted, steel frame work for the building, they found two huge semis with trailers filled with more cinder blocks and building supplies.

"How many do you think we're gonna need?" Jack asked.

"I don't know. I'll figure it out this evenin when we quit for the day. Right now, let's load up and see what we can carry."

"You mean head right back to the place without givin momma a chance to rest?"

"She can rest up while we're loadin." Ennis offered still poking around to see what he could find. What he found was a hand cart – a large flat platform on wheels, the handle jutting up from one end.

"We can get a bunch on this cart." He said and pushed it over to a stack and started loading.

Mrs. Twist had already taken a seat nearby, so Jack joined Ennis.

"I think that's about it." Ennis said after they loaded the twenty-fourth block. I doubt I can push more than this."

"Let's see how many we can get in our grocery carts." Jack suggested and headed over to another stack.

They managed to get twelve in. Six standing on edge in the cart, with three cross-ways on top of those, and three more on the bottom rack.

Mrs. Twist walked over then, and tried to push Jack's cart. "I can maybe push half that load."

"Are you sure, Momma? It's pretty heavy."

"I'm sure. Load my cart and we'll see."

They put six in her cart and she was able to maneuver it with very little effort.

"Oh yeah. I can handle this. Maybe even a few more."

"No." Jack insisted. "That's more than enough for you to push all that way."

"All right then." Ennis spoke. "Let's get started. We'll see how she makes it. If it's too hard on her, we'll lighten her load for next trip."

When they walked back into town for a second load, Jack stopped next to some overturned porta pottys at the construction site.

"I wish we could get one a these out to the ranch." Jack said. "It's not too bad for you and me to go outside, but I'm sure Momma's havin a hard time. She's not used to it."

"How'd we get one back to the ranch?" Ennis asked. "They got no wheels on 'em, and they're too big and heavy to lift up on that push cart we got."

"Maybe we could take it apart, and put it back together again once we get it there. As cold as it is, I'll bet we'll be havin snow before long. Imagine what it's going to be like goin outside then."

"Let's take a look. We got more tools now. Maybe we can take it apart." Ennis agreed.

They struggled with it for some time before they finally had it in pieces. The two tanks came out easy enough once they got the maintenance door open. Getting the stool out was more difficult as it was secured to the floor of the tiny building that was difficult to work in. It finally gave way to their efforts and out it came.

"That's about all we can do to lighten it." Ennis said stretching and rolling his shoulders. "Here's hopin we got it light enough to get it up on that cart. We'll take what we can this trip, and get the rest of it next trip."

"Good deal. I know our first priority has to be food, but havin this porta potty will make a world a difference."

"Where's your mom?" Ennis asked looking around and not seeing her.

"Over across the street. She said she thought she saw somethin over in that back yard that we could use."

Mrs. Twist came back empty handed, but with a big smile on her face.

"What is it, Momma. Did you find something?"

"I did; but I can't carry it. Come see." She led them across the street. "We'll have to carry it out to the ranch on the push cart. We should have brought it over with us."

She showed them the picnic table she'd found in someone's back yard. She no longer talked about them 'stealing'. It seemed like it just passed from her mind. Now is was just about 'finding' things.

"Oh this is great, Momma. We got a surprise for you too!" Jack said as he and Ennis carried the table across the street into the construction area, and showed her the porta potty they had taken apart. She was absolutely thrilled!

"Oh boys, this is so wonderful! I can't imagine how people survived before they had toilets. Going out side is just so... nasty. Do you really think we can get it out to the ranch?"

"Don't see why not. I just wish we could find another push cart. It would make things so much easier."

Ennis said.

"Home Depot has lots a those. I know right where one is... was. Maybe we could find one there." Jack suggested.

"Let's go take a look." Ennis said.

They walked past the bus station on their way to Home Depot and Mrs. Twist asked, "Do you think we should go put those bolts back in the seats, and the luggage back where it belongs?"

"No, Momma. That bus is totaled, the bolts in or out won't matter none."

"Well, that bus was a life saver for us. We'd a been sleepin out in the open without it. Either that or in some wrecked car." She chatted as they walked.

"You gettin tired Momma? It's been a long walk, and we still gotta walk back."

"I am gettin a little tired, but I'll rest up once we get there."

"If we find one, we can put her on it, and she can ride back to the construction site. That'll give her time to rest up some." Ennis suggested.

They found three! Out in back of the rubble they also found several carts that were like the grocery carts but larger, and the carrying area was made out of hard plastic. They were checking out the push carts to find the best one when Mrs. Twist got hold of one. "This isn't too heavy. I can push one of these."

"Momma, it's easy enough to push when it's empty, but you could never push one once it's loaded. You need to stick to one a those grocery carts. Those are plenty hard enough for you to push."

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that." She admitted.

"She gave up too easily. She must be tired." Ennis grinned. "I think we ought to take three a these grocery style carts for when we're back to just lookin for groceries again. They'll carry a lot more than those we got. I'll push them, and you can carry your Momma on one a these push carts?"

"You got a deal! Climb on, Momma."

"Oh now that isn't really necessary. I can walk back." She insisted.

"We gotta walk clear across town, and that's a couple a miles. You already walked into town, and then out here. And don't forget, you'll still have to walk back out to the ranch. Come on. Get on. You don't weigh near as much as those cinder blocks we carried. I can push you easy." She relented and Jack took her hand and helped her on. She sat down and they began their trek back to the construction area.

After some time, Jack gave out a whistle, and Ennis who was leading, stopped and waited until Jack came up beside him.

"Right here on this corner is a small convenience store. We ought to take a look. It might be easy to get into. The least we should do is check the cars in the parking lot." Jack suggested.

"Good idea, Bud." Ennis rolled his carts up into the area, while Mrs. Twist got off the push cart, and walked up through the tumbled cars, eager to see what they could find.

Once again, they had no luck trying to dig anything out of the actual store, but they did have luck with the cars. In the dozen or so cars that were close by, they found an assortment of goods. A wide variety of food in small amounts was found, along with flashlights, a couple of First Aid kits, another pillow and blanket, and a pickup on its side that had lost its load of brand new garden tools – shovels, rakes, hoes, hoses and a wheelbarrow. It also had ladders of various sizes attached on the sides, a level, and another tool kit inside. They were very glad they stopped. Mrs. Twist rode the last mile to the construction site sitting on top of two ladders. She didn't seem to mind at all. They stopped at the bus depot, and picked up the tent.

Now the decision was which was most important to take back first – the porta potty which they could now take since Ennis and Jack both had a push cart; or do they take only part of it on one cart while the other cart carried the table. They debated the issue while they while they rested.

The porta potty won. Mrs. Twist would push her grocery cart that carried the tent and about half of their groceries, Ennis would carry the actual little building that they managed to lay flat, and sideways, on one push cart, while Jack would carry the door, stool, and two tanks on his.

After a good long rest, they headed out.

They ate lunch when they got to the ranch, and planned to head back to town afterward, but one look at Mrs. Twist, and seeing how exhausted she looked, they decided against it. They used the excuse that they should really spend the time getting the tent set up, and the porta potty put back together, so they wouldn't have to go outside any more. The porta potty went together a lot faster than it came apart.

"Are we headin back to town for the table now?" Mrs. Twist asked once they were finished.

"I think we should probably call it a day." Jack said. "Once we get back to town, I think we should just have an early dinner and rest up."

"I agree." Ennis said as they started their walk back into town. "We need to take some time and plan out exactly how big a place we're gonna build. The one thing we know for sure, is that we wanna build it around the pump so we'll have runnin water inside."

"Our place is gonna be a real nice little place. We'll have runnin water, a table to eat our meals on, and now we got a bathroom too." Mrs. Twist chatted happily as they walked.

x x x x

They first thought of a twelve-foot by twelve-foot room, but after lots of figuring, and input from all three of them, it was decided it wouldn't be large enough. They worked and reworked the plan for the next several days while making trip after trip carrying supplies. If they had any energy left after their last run of the day, they would search through more vehicles for food.

x x x x

Three weeks later...

The last few long pieces of barn wood were attached, finishing off the double layered roof of their twelve by twenty four foot building which, as they planned, they built around the pump that now stood in the front, right hand corner of the room. They found a four foot, galvanized watering trough, and built a frame for it to sit on for a sink. It had a connection on the bottom for a hose, so they gathered as many garden hoses as they could find, connected them together, and used them for a drain line. Front and back doors were dug out of different piles of debris, both having half windows that could be opened for ventilation. Another door was built in right next to the back door, that led to the porta potty they had cinder blocked in. Various sizes of left-over barn wood was placed over a layer of cinder blocks made do for a floor. Using scrap wood and broken pieces of two-by-fours scabbed together with straightened out nails pulled from debris, they made frames for three beds. Mrs. Twist got the extra sleeping bag, making her bed the softest.

"Boys, this is just wonderful!" Mrs. Twist said when she took her first good look around their new living quarters. "I just can't believe how well it turned out."

"Well, we just got beds and this picnic table for now, Momma; but we're gonna put some shelves in so we'll have some place to store everythin."

"That will be just wonderful!" She was truly pleased. "We've got a roof over our heads now, running water inside, and even a little bathroom."

"This will be your bed, Momma." Jack showed her to the bed in the back, right-hand corner of the room. "It's closest to the bathroom."

Ennis and Jack's beds were on the left-hand side, front and back; opposite each other.

"It's just wonderful." She gave them each a hug.

"It's not perfect." Ennis said. "All we got for light is these flashlights; but at least we got a lot of them. And we still need to find a way to heat this place."

"We'll find what we need." She assured him.

"What we need now is to find some more clothes." Jack said as he slouched down on his bed for a rest. "These clothes are gettin really ripe."

"Mine too." Ennis agreed.

"I was thinkin the same thing." Momma Twist said. "Tomorrow when we go into town, we should go through some a those suitcases on the bus. There might be somethin in there we can wear."

"That's a good idea, Momma." Jack was pleased that his mom no longer thought of what they were doing as 'stealing'. She now seemed to relish each find as much as he and Ennis did.

"It sure is a good idea!" Ennis agreed. "Then we can wash these. I noticed we got some laundry detergent. We'll have to come up with some clothes lines to hang things on."

"There's plenty a clothes lines around. We just need to spend some time walkin in the residential neighborhoods." Mrs. Twist said. "I'll bet we find all the rope we need. Some clothes pins too."

"That would be great, Momma. What would be even better is if we could find a couple a those fold-up dryin racks so we can do laundry even in the coldest weather."

"What we need most of all is a wood cook stove." Ennis said. "Then we can cook inside, and use it for heat as well."

"That would be great, but those things weigh a ton. We'd never be able to get it out here." Jack said.

"It wouldn't have to be one a those huge things. Just one a those smaller ones. Maybe we could find one a those." Ennis hoped out loud.

"You know anybody with a wood cook-stove, Momma?"

"Oh my; let me think." She sat silent for a bit. "The Banks did have one, but they sold it back when they had a new kitchen put in and went all electric. There used to be one at the church, but I haven't seen it in years. They probably gave it to someone who needed it. The Daniels had one a those little things. It was a heater only. You couldn't cook on it. They moved off years ago. Don't know if they took it with them or left it in the house. Oh that's no help at all. I'm just thinkin out loud." She was quiet for some time, deep in thought.

"There was one in that barber shop you used to take me to. Is that place still there?"

"Oh son, I don't know. I haven't been near it since the last time I took you when you were a boy."

"It wasn't very big, but I remember he used to keep a coffee pot goin on it all the time." Jack said.

"Yes, it was small." She agreed.

"What about an antique store?" Ennis asked. "You know where any are? They might have one."

"I know where there was one years ago. I don't know if its still there or not." She answered. "I just need to think a little more." She lay down on her bunk.

"Jack, let's walk a little, take a look around the place." Ennis suggested.

"We gotta come up with some way to heat the place." Jack said as they walked.

"That's what I been thinkin." Ennis replied, enjoying the October late afternoon sunshine that finally broke through. It gave everything a golden glow and lifted his spirits somewhat. "If we could just find us a stove, that's all we'd need to get us through the comin winter. We got a roof over our heads, inside water, a bathroom, and we can find food enough to get by. What we need most right now is heat."

"Uh huh." Jack nodded in agreement as they walked. "What's that over there shinin in the sunlight?" He pointed off to the east pasture.

"Must be glass to shine like that." Ennis said as they turned in that direction to find out what it was.

"It's a camper top!" Jack said as they got closer.

"Looks like one a those that hook on top of a pickup." Ennis said as they could see it better the closer they got.

"Looks like it's bottom part is in a ditch or somethin." Jack said.

"Holy shit!" Ennis said as they reached the bank of the ditch and saw the camper was attached to a pickup, sitting upright at the bottom of a ditch.

They climbed down and managed to get the cab doors open enough to squeeze inside. Ennis reached down, and turned the key that was sticking out of the ignition, as he had so many times these last few weeks; but this time the truck sprang to life!

They both let out a howl and hugged and kissed. They had a vehicle! Now all they had to do is to figure how to get it out of the ditch.

"Let's walk along the ditch and see if we can spot where it went in. The ditch might be shallower, and we could just back it out." Ennis suggested.

"There's where it went in. It is shallower, but still too deep to back out." Jack said. "What if we could build a ramp of some kind?"

"Maybe." Ennis agreed. "Or..."

"What?"

"What if we just fill it in here."

"It'd take a whole lotta fillin." Jack eyed the depth again.

"It wouldn't all have to be dirt." Ennis explained. "What if we started with some a those broken pieces a wood we couldn't use? And we still got a bunch a cinderblocks we could throw in."

"There's lots a debris from the house." Jack added. "We could bring it almost up to the level we need, and then fill the rest in with dirt. What do you think?"

"What do I think? I think you always was a great thinker, Jack." Ennis teased as they hurried back to get the wheelbarrow. In no time they had it full. Ennis pushed it while Jack carried a double arm load of debris.

They dumped it into the ditch and went back for more. Three loads brought it up to the level they wanted so they came back with shovels and began digging, and dumping the soil on top of the debris.

"If we can only get this out... we'll have transportation!" Jack beamed as he dug furiously.

"We'll get it out if we have to fill in the whole darn ditch!" Ennis promised.

Soon they had it the way they wanted, climbed down, stamping the loose dirt down good, and smoothing out their small ramp.

"You wanna do the honors, or should I?" Ennis asked when they got back to the truck.

"You do it." Jack said.

"All right." Ennis grinned and jumped down. He got back in behind the wheel, and started slowly backing up.

They needn't have worried. The truck backed to the ramp, and up it went, easy as pie.

Once on top, Jack jumped in the passenger side. "Let's show momma. No more long walks for her!"

"Or any of us." Ennis grinned and reached over for a kiss before heading back to their little house.

He stopped by the front door and Jack reached over and honked the horn again and again until Mrs. Twist came out the door in a rush.

"Oh, oh!" She stood there in shock. Sure, at first, that they had finally been rescued; but recovered when saw saw it was Jack and Ennis climbing down out of the truck. "You found a truck that works!" She covered her initial disappointment with a smile.

"We did!" Jack said. "It was in a ditch, but we managed to get it out."

"Let's get a look in the camper." Ennis said and headed to the back. He went in first, then motioned for Jack and his mom to come in.

"Oh my goodness!" She said once inside. "Isn't this just wonderful!"

"We have transportation now! No more long, tiresome walks, Momma."

"We need to get into town and see if we can find us a trailer that ain't all busted up. Then our huntin for supplies will be a breeze." Ennis said.

"Oh boys! This is just wonderful!" She took a seat at the small table while Jack and Ennis checked everything out.

"It's got a little bathroom, Momma."

"Stove works." Ennis said trying all three burners. "We'll need to keep an eye out for more propane. We'll wanna keep some on hand for when it runs out."

"Is that a little refrigerator?" Mrs. Twist asked.

"It sure is." Ennis answered, checking it out after stepping aside so Jack could climb up on the bunk.

"Bed's nice and comfortable, Momma."

Something under the table caught Ennis' eye while he was bent down checking out the small refrigerator. "Excuse me; could you stand up for just a minute?"

"Certainly. What's wrong?"

"I just need to see somethin." He fiddled under the table a minute, and the table dropped down.

"So that's how it works." He said more to himself than to others. He took the back seat cushions, placed them on the table top and it became level with the seat cushions. "Another bed." He grinned at the others.

"Oh, isn't that clever!" Mrs. Twist said. "This will be my bed then when we drive out a here."

"No, Momma. The bunk is yours. It'll be a lot more comfortable."

"Absolutely not! You think I'm gonna be climbin up and down there all the time? Nosiree! I might take a fall, and then where would we be! Uh uh. I'll stay on the table, and be grateful for it. Just look at these nice cushions." She pressed down on them with both hands. "Nice and soft. That bunk's too high, and too big for me. It's just perfect for the two of you."

"But Momma; it ain't right you sleepin on a table."

"Nonsense!" she scoffed. "I'm _not_ sleepin up that high, so it's either this nice table/bed, or it's the floor. You choose."

Jack gave a sigh. He'd lost and he knew it. "All right, Momma. I guess you can sleep wherever you want to. He just didn't know how Ennis was going to feel about them sleeping together with his mom just a few feet away.

"What do you say we quit worryin about who sleeps where and take a little ride into town?" Ennis suggested.

"This late?" Mrs. Twist asked after checking her watch. "It's after four. It'll be dark soon."

"We're not but five minutes from town now, Momma. I say we take a quick run in, drive around a little, stop at the bus and see if we can find us some clothes, then see if we can find a trailer. Think a all the stuff we can bring back if we had a trailer."

"Okay. Let's do it!" She agreed as Ennis returned the cushions to where they belonged, and up-righted the table to its original position.

Their first stop at the bus station took nearly an hour, but they came away with a couple changes of clothing for each of them, before they took off hunting for a trailer. They found a place where several vehicles had come together at an intersection. One was pulling a twelve-foot U-Haul trailer. The car pulling it had been hit from both sides, so even though it was smashed to pieces, it was still upright, and the trailer had sustained next to no damage. In short minutes, they had it hooked up to their truck.

"So we go home now; or do we look around a little more?" Jack asked looking at the nearly dark sky.

"Up to the two a you." Ennis answered.

"I think we should go home, have dinner, and talk about what we should do now that we have transportation." Mrs. Twist said. "We should probably plan on leaving in the morning."

"Leaving?" Both Jack and Ennis wondered, but neither of them spoke the thought out loud.

x x x x

Dinner finished, they discussed their options over coffee.

"I think we should search all the vehicles we come to for anything we might be able to use, and then shove them off the street and out of the way." Jack suggested.

"With the truck, we might could pull some a those roof beams out a the way, and maybe get into some a these grocery stores." Ennis suggested. "We need to stock up as much as we can for winter."

"What do you think, Momma?"

She sat with her arms folded and mute for several seconds before answering. "I think we should do what we should have done from day one! We should search for survivors. Most a these older homes around town have basements. I'm bettin some a the newer ones do too. There could be people trapped, unable to get out, and survivin on whatever things they had canned and stored down there. Once we've tried every single home in the area, we should just load up, get in that truck, and head south until we're completely out of the damaged area where we can contact the authorities, and the insurance company. That's what we should be doin instead a worryin so much about our comfort."

"Momma..." Jack reached across the table for her hand.

She reluctantly took it, but her expression didn't change. She was adamant.

"We can do that." Ennis said and got a look from Jack. "We can do it all. We'll start first thing in the mornin, hit the residential area and go door to door. We can honk the horn, call out, and bang on anythin we can find to see if we get an answer. With the tools we got now, we could do some diggin if we need to. At the same time, as we go along, we and keep an eye out for a wood stove, and any thing else we might need. Then after we've checked out everywhere in town, we can circle out and check on the farms and ranches in the area. We can even take a run up to Lightnin Flat and check your place out. See if it got hit or not. Once we've covered the entire area, we can head south; take a good long look to see how far out this mess goes. We'll always have this shelter to come back to."

"Oh Ennis! Could we? Could we really?" She asked, her eyes glowing with appreciation.

"Sure we can." He nodded.

"We can do anythin you want, Momma." Jack added and gave Ennis a 'thank-you' smile. "You just have to let us know what you want to do."

" _That's_ what I wanna do! Check for survivors, check out the ranch, and then leave all a this, and get back to civilization again."

"We'll do it then." Jack promised.

Their meeting over, they readied themselves for bed. Mrs. Twist was the first in the tiny bathroom.

"I didn't know she felt like that." Jack said softly, not sure if she could hear them talking or not. "Do you really think there's anyone out there?"

"No, I don't. This whole thing is screwy. I never heard of a storm this big before, and if everythin and everyone was destroyed, how come we ain't seen no bodies? No blood? And how can a storm take down all the buildings, and not up-root a single tree? None of it makes sense. But no. I don't think there's anyone left but the three a us."

"I agree." Jack fiddled with his shirt pocket again looking for cigarettes that weren't there. "It don't make sense. It's like we're stuck inside some kind a bad dream or somethin."

"This ain't no dream, Bud." Ennis said as they sat on the side of their beds opposite each other. "We ain't but a few days from November. Winter's comin on, and we need to prepare for it. We got our shelter up, and that was the main thing; but now we need to get after food and some way to heat this place."

"I agree completely. You really think we can do everythin at once?"

"We gotta try. We don't wanna upset your Momma. If she thinks we should be searchin for survivors, it won't take all that much time away from searchin for what we need."

"What about after we get through the residential section? She'll be expectin us to take off south."

"If we play our cards right, we can stall until the snow starts. If we can find us a wood stove, get us some heat, and a good supply a food laid by, she might not be all that anxious to take off down the road."

"Well, findin that truck is gonna make things a lot easier, but it's bringin with it some problems with momma wantin to take off like that. I had no idea she felt that way."

"Me neither." Ennis nodded his agreement.

"What do you think we'd find if we did head south? Do you think we could just... drive out a this?"

"I don't know, Bud. My mind don't work like that. It thinks about the things I'm facin right now in front a me, and that's _our_ survival. And our survival depends on us getting food and heat. That has to be our priority."

"So we go on, like the two a us think we should, and just add a little bangin around, a little noise, and hope she'll be content with that." Jack nodded in agreement.

"That's the best we can do for now, Bud."

"Good night boys!" Mrs. Twist called before climbing into bed.

x x x x

"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!" Mrs. Twist moaned as she clung to the three-wheel bicycle with a small trailer on behind that she had found.

"Momma, what is it!" Jack rushed to his distraught mom.

"Beula James! Beula James! This is her bike! I'd know it anywhere!"

Ennis dumped the items he'd found into the back of the trailer and joined them. "What's the matter?"

"Beula James!" Mrs. Twist said as if the very name itself explained everything.

"It's all right, Momma. It's all right." Jack held his mom, trying to calm her.

"This is her bike! I should have remembered! I should have!" She moaned.

"Remembered what, Momma? Was she a friend of yours?"

"She was a friend of everybody's!"

Ennis handed her a bottle of water.

She took a drink, a deep breath, and tried to pull herself together.

"Why not take a little rest Momma. Maybe lie down in the camper for a while."

"No, no; I'm all right. It's just... I can't believe I didn't think a her before."

Jack and Ennis exchanged bewildered glances.

"Maybe you _should_ lie down for a bit." Ennis seconded Jack's suggestion not knowing what else to do.

Mrs. Twist took another drink before she settled down and began to talk.

"Beula James... She is such a good person. She lives about ten miles out on the south road. Not the highway, but what everyone calls the south road. It's just a dirt road and don't have no other name. She lost her only child, a son, in that awful Viet Nam war. Her husband went crazy after; drank himself to death a few months after their boy's funeral, and she was left on her own. She didn't know how to drive, so she sold his truck, and bought this three-wheel bike and little trailer set up."

"That's real sad, Momma." Jack patted her shoulder.

"She makes her livin sellin fresh fruit and vegetables, and in the winter – firewood. Folks were real worried about her and wanted to help, but she insisted she could do it by herself, and she did. She ran that farm all by herself!

"With the insurance money she got from the government, she set her place up so it could be run without electricity so she'd have no bills to pay. She got herself a chain saw and log splitter so she could handle the firewood. Now I never was out to her place, but I heard tell she sold off all a her appliances and bought a wood cook stove, and ice box."

"A cook stove?" Ennis was a lot more interested in the story now.

"Yes! She did a lot a cannin, and sold some of it to friends and neighbors. Her stuff was delicious! I bought some of it from her every year. You got a discount if you returned the jars. She did all a that by herself, and never missed church on Sunday mornin."

"You think you could find her place?" Jack asked.

"Yes, yes; I'm sure I could. Especially now that we have the truck. We'll be able to figure out exactly how far ten miles is."

"Okay then, Momma. What do you say we take a ride out there and see if we can find that stove."

They loaded up and headed south.

They needn't have worried about finding the place. The James mailbox was down, but leaning against the front gate. You couldn't miss it. As they drove in, they noticed several huge mounds of firewood with a big hand painted sign announcing 'Firewood For Sale'.

The log splitter sat right out in front of what used to be a barn.

"This is great!" Jack said as they checked it over.

"And it's got a hitch." Ennis noticed.

Mrs. Twist wandered aimlessly around the area for a bit; lost in memories. She stopped at an old cellar door embedded into the ground behind the rubble that had once been a house.

Jack and Ennis walked up. Jack stomped on the door a few times and called out. "Hello? Hello? Anyone down there?"

There was no answer. Mrs. Twist had been hopeful, but the men knew there would be no answer.

Jack tried calling out one more time before he knelt and began working on the lock.

They couldn't get the lock open; so, with the help of their crowbar, they pried it off.

Ennis lifted the door up and back, and insisted he go in first. In moments, he called that it was safe for them to enter.

Shining their flashlights around, they found shelf after shelf filled with canned goods, all neatly labeled and dated. Not only were the walls filled with shelves, but shelving units were set up in the middle of the area, and those were stacked full as well. There were not only items she had canned herself, but some store bought items as well; toilet paper, sugar, flour, coffee, tooth paste, etc. It was like walking into a grocery store.

Jack and Ennis were still in shock when the area lit up. Turning to see where the light was coming from, they found Mrs. Twist holding a kerosene lamp.

"I never did care for the smell a these things, but they do come in handy when the electricity is out." She said.

"Did you find any extra kerosene?" Ennis asked. "I agree that they are smelly old things, but it'll come in handy on dark winter days."

"I didn't see any, but knowin Beula, she's probably got some around here somewhere." She said.

"Probably out in the barn." Jack suggested. "She probably wouldn't keep it down here with all this food."

With the lantern, they were able to see things a lot better as they walked around.

Mrs. Twist pulled down two large jars that were labeled 'Chicken Noodle Stew'.

"What's you got there, Momma?"

"We'll have this for lunch. It's the very best." She said walking to the stairs.

"You think we should start loadin up?" Jack asked.

"Nah, not yet. Let's see about gettin into the kitchen first. I wanna get that stove." Ennis suggested, looking at the tangled mass of beams at the top of the stairs. "I wish we had some better rope than clothes line stuff." He commented as they climbed the back stairs out into the cool morning air.

"It's nylon. It should hold; shouldn't it?" Jack asked as they unloaded the several coils of rope from the camper that they had gathered.

"I hope so, cause it's all we got."

Mrs. Twist had placed her two jars of stew in the small camper sink and had gone back outside to wander.

"You think she's all right?" Jack asked.

"Maybe you should check on her while I un-hook our trailer." Ennis suggested.

"Good idea. You need any help, just sing out." Jack said before joining his mom. "You okay, Momma?" He put his arm around her.

"I was just lookin for the chickens." She responded. "I heard she had a big chicken coop around here somewhere."

"They probably all wandered off, Momma." Jack shielded his eyes and scanned the fields. "There they are!" He pointed off to the west. "Look!" He spotted a bunch of about twenty or thirty of them together foraging around in the grass.

"Oh yes; I see 'em." She looked where he was pointing. "When you boys get some time, maybe you could fix up a pen of some kind and we can bring 'em over to our place. They're probably still layin, but you'll never find the eggs in this deep grass."

"Sure we can. First we're gonna try and drag this roof off a the house and see if we can get to that wood stove. Are you okay with that?"

"Yes." She sighed. "This is just a terrible situation we find ourselves in, but I know that Beula would want us to take whatever we needed."

"She sounds like a real fine woman, Momma. Why don't you stand over there, back by what's left of the barn. I wanna make sure you're a good distance away. If that roof does come off, there could be some debris flyin around with it."

"Oh, are you ready to do that now? Shouldn't we get all that food out first in case everythin falls in?" She asked.

"It's not gonna fall in, Momma. That house was built well in its day, and that cellar is secure. If anything, removing the roof should lighten the load."

"Oh good. If you need any more rope, I see a bunch of it over there by those bushes." She pointed off to the east.

"We've already collected a lot. I'll see if Ennis thinks we need any more." Jack left her safe over by the old water pump, and joined Ennis who was crawling out from under the truck after attaching several ropes to the rear axle.

"You ready to try this?" Ennis asked as Jack walked up.

"You bet! I see you tied four ropes. You think it will hold? There's another clothes line out back if you need more."

"I don't know if it will hold at all; but even if we bust all four ropes, it'd be worth it if we can move it even enough for us to climb down inside." Ennis worried.

"It'll work." Jack assured him. "It has to."

"I wish we had some chain. We don't though, so here's hopin this nylon rope is strong enough to do the job."

"The roof's not all that big. It'll hold." Jack said, not at all sure that it would.

"You wanna do the honors?" Ennis nodded toward the truck.

"Oh no." Jack took a few steps back. "You did all the work; you should do it. I'll be over there by Momma."

Ennis took a deep breath and climbed into the cab. Fortunately, the house had been a small, one story; and the roof wasn't all that big. As the truck inched forward, with a great sound of splintering wood, the roof came away easily.

By the time Ennis got out of the truck, Jack and Mrs. Twist were there, and the three of them surveyed the remains of the smashed house. And there it stood, like some ancient sentinel, the huge iron stove, covered with small bits and pieces of shattered wood.

"Oh my god; it's huge!" Jack said as he and Ennis worked their way toward it through the mess.

"That thing's got to be at least four foot wide." Ennis commented.

"There's some stove-pipe." Jack picked up a large chunk of pipe and tossed it over on the grass. "It's a bit bent up, but we can straighten it."

"Good. Keep an eye out for more." Ennis suggested as he brushed the debris from the top of the stove.

"How we gonna get this thing out a here?" Jack asked. "Can we just tie it to the truck, like we did the roof, and pull it out, or are we gonna have to clear away all a this mess."

"I'm hopin we can just pull it out." Ennis answered. "Let's get the tool kit and see if we can take the back and doors off. That should lighten the load some.

"Hey, there's some cast iron pots and skillets." Jack noticed and gathered them up. "We can use these."

Ennis looked around and found a few more, plus another section of stove-pipe. "This is all good stuff." They scanned the area, and gathered up a few more items that they placed in a pile on the grass.

"That looks like another piece a stove-pipe over there." Mrs. Twist pointed to something sticking up.

"Good!" Ennis made his way over to it and brought it out, adding it to their stack.

"You really think you can get it out a there?" Mrs. Twist asked. "That stove's solid cast iron, and if it survived a roof fallin on it and it's still standin, it's gotta be _really, really_ heavy."

"If we can move a roof, Momma; I'm sure we'll figure out a way to move that stove."

"Here." Ennis handed Jack a screw-driver he had gotten from the tool kit. "Let's see if we can get that back off."

It came off a lot easier than they thought it would, but was shocked at how heavy it was. In very little time, they had all the doors off, and Jack was tying rope to the legs of the stove, while Ennis re-positioned the truck. The stove came out as easily as the roof had, dragging a lot of debris with it and sending Jack and his mom scrambling to get out of the way of flying debris.

With a small, satisfied grin, Ennis joined them as everyone gave the stove a good look. "I can't believe we actually got this thing out." He said.

"I knew you would." Mrs. Twist said. "Whatever we need, the two a you somehow manage to find. Now the trick will be to get it into the trailer."

"Uh huh. I'll hook the trailer back up." Ennis left Jack and his Mom still admiring their find.

Ennis backed up to the trailer, connected it, then moved it over to the stove. With the trailer door up, and the ramp pulled out, it was just a matter of grunt work for the two of them to shove it up inside.

"You think it's gonna move around any?" Jack asked. "I'd hate for it to bust any a those jars of canned food we're gonna be puttin in there. Maybe we could wedge it in at the back a the trailer with a bunch a that fire wood we saw up front? You think that would work?"

Ennis wiped his brow with the back of his hand. "That's a good idea; let's try it. I been thinkin about all a that food. Maybe we should just try and take back what we can hold in the camper this time. There's lots a storage in there. What I'd really like to do is take back some a those shelvin units. What we got now with those boards across the cinderblocks isn't very stable. And now that we know it's here, we can come back as many times as we need to, to get it all."

"Good idea." Jack agreed. "The more room we have in the back, the more firewood we can carry without havin to worry about breakin any a those jars."

"I wanna spend some time tryin to get into what's left a that barn." Ennis said. "It sure would be nice if we could find that chain saw. No tellin what else we might find in there."

"That barn roof's a lot bigger than the house roof. You really think we can move it?" Jack asked.

"No; not a chance. We'll just have to dig around and see what we can find." Ennis said. "I'm thinkin that since the log splitter was out in the open, that the chain saw might be pretty close by. Maybe just inside the front door."

"Well that door looks pretty easy to get to." Jack said. "Let's hope you're right."

Mrs. Twist came up out a the basement carrying a laundry basket full of canning jars and headed for the camper.

"Momma, you don't need to be doin that."

"You boys go on and do your do. I'll get some a these jars loaded up and get lunch goin. It's nearly noon."

"It is?" Jack asked, checking his watch.

It had been a productive morning after the slow start. They had found only a few useful items before Mrs. Twist had remembered about Beula James. But now they had a wood cook-stove, cast iron utensils to use it, a ton of fire wood, a log splitter, a cellar full of canned goods, and the possibility of a chain saw.

"A true blessin." Mrs. Twist sighed as they drove away with their camper and trailer full. "Beula James was a true blessin."

CHAPTER 4

The stove was an almighty chore to get inside, but they finally got it in and hooked up. They placed it just to the right of the front door.

"I knew we'd find one!" Mrs. Twist beamed. "I just knew it. Whatever we need, the two a you somehow manage to come up with. And this one is such a beauty! It's gonna be a pleasure to cook on it."

"I feel a lot better about things now we got us some way to heat this place." Ennis stood admiring the stove.  
"You know how to cook on this, Momma?" Jack asked.

"Course I do! I learned how to cook on a wood stove." She grinned proudly.

x x x x

They spent the next several days going through neighborhood after neighborhood. They found a lot more canned food, items in basements that they could use, and stack after stack of firewood. After the first snow caught them out on the road, they hurried back and got a nice fire started in their stove. Mrs. Twist got a pot of coffee started, and sat at their picnic table, quietly staring off into space.

"What is it, Momma?" Jack asked taking a seat next to her.

"I keep thinkin that there must be somebody else out there, maybe hungry, alone, and scared. And now with the snow..."

"Tomorrow, instead a stoppin and goin through every vehicle we find, we can just go from house to house and keep lookin." Ennis offered as he joined them at the table. "We can cover a lot more places, a lot faster that way."

Mrs. Twist wiped a tear away. "You boys don't think there's anyone left out there; do you?" She faced each of them in turn.

"We got no way a knowin that, Momma."

"We been all over this town, and we ain't seen no signs of anyone bein around, but us." Ennis said.

"Well... I think tomorrow we should head south then. See if we can just drive out a this mess." She suggested.

Jack and Ennis were both silent. They had been hoping she'd forgotten about that. She hadn't.

"You wanna go to Lightnin Flat first?" Jack asked. "See if the house is still standin?"

"No. That'd be just a waste a time. As old as it is, and as bad a shape as it's in; I'm sure it's down. I always knew it'd fall sooner or later. I just wanna head south. Once we get down to Casper... there should be someone there who could tell us what we should be doin, how to file our insurance claim, and get our money from the bank."

Jack and Ennis exchanged looks. Neither one knew what to say.

"All right, Momma. Tomorrow mornin, we head south."

x x x x

"What do you think?" Jack asked later when his mom was in the bathroom and they were getting ready for bed.

"I don't know, Bud." Ennis shrugged. "We got no way a knowin what's out there."

"You don't think anyone's out there?" Jack asked with a little shiver a fear.

"No; I don't." Ennis shook his head. "I don't know why I think that; I just do. I got this feelin... I think the three a us are all that's left."

x x x x

"We need to stock the camper before we leave." Mrs. Twist suggested the next morning. "That way we won't have to worry about havin a place to stay once we get to Casper. Motels are expensive, so is eatin out in restaurants, and no tellin how long it'll take for our insurance claim to pay off."

"I was thinkin the same thing." Ennis said, and then quietly to Jack only, he added, "I wanna make sure we take those rifles we found. No tellin what we're libel to run into out there. There _could_ be other survivors out there, and they might not be as friendly as we are."

"I wish we didn't have to go." Jack said as he rolled up his sleeping bag.

"Me too, Bud." Ennis replied. "I guess it's for the best. We need to know for sure if there's anyone else out there or not."

"And what do we do if we find someone... someone... not friendly?" Jack asked.

"Don't know. We gotta play this one by ear, and just do the best we can." Ennis answered.

Mrs. Twist came back inside then, and their conversation stopped.

"You all ready, Momma?"

"Yes, once we load up the rest a this food I set out here. Either a you need another cup a coffee before we take off?"

They both said 'no'.

She emptied the pot and rinsed it out. "Don't forget to take your extra clothes." She reminded them before making another trip out to the camper.

They loaded the rest of the supplies and left.

x x x x

The ride to Casper took nearly three hours with Ennis driving, and having to weave around crashed or over-turned vehicles. Leaning against Jack's shoulder as they drove, Mrs. Twist seemed to wilt more and more as mile after mile of devastation spread out before them. "Oh no! Noooo!" She moaned as they drove into the ruins that once was Casper.

Jack put his arms around her, and held her close as she began to weep. "I'm so sorry, Momma."

Ennis stopped the truck and got out. He got the siphon out from behind the seat, and proceeded to fill their gas tank from one of the empty vehicles sitting nearby. After a few minutes, Jack joined him. "Is she okay?" Ennis asked.

"Yeah, I guess. What do you think we should do now?"

"If it was up to me, we'd head on back to Gillette; but I think you need to ask her. See what she wants to do."

She joined them before the conversation went any further. "I don't suppose you've seen any signs of life around? Any at all?"

"Uh uh." Ennis nodded. "You wanna drive around town some?"

She took a long look around the area, and shook her head, 'no'. "I guess we need to just keep drivin. How far is it to Cheyenne?"

"About a hundred-seventy-five miles, Momma. Probably another four or five hours drive. We're not makin very good time with the roads as bad as they are."

"Well, it's nearly noon." She said looking at her watch. "I think we should have a bite to eat before we leave then."

Lunch was some stew they heated up in the camper. They were mostly silent while they ate. She did ask one time, "Do you think it's gonna be like this in Cheyenne too?"

Neither Jack nor Ennis knew what to say to that. Ennis finally said, "I guess we'll find out when we get there."

Neither of them were prepared for her total devastation when they arrived four and a half hours later, and found Cheyenne to be nothing but pile after pile of rubble.

"NOOOOOOOO!" She wailed, and took off running.

They chased after her and caught her as she collapsed in the street, next to a pile up of cars that had crashed together at an intersection. She wept great heaving sobs, as Jack tried to comfort her.

The sky overhead darkened and opened up, big cold freezing drops of rain began to fall. With Ennis' help, they got her back to the truck and into the camper.

"No more... no more!" She wailed. "I can't take no more! Please... can we go back? I wanna go back to our little home in Gillette. Please. Please!"

Ennis got some coffee going on their little stove while Jack comforted his mom.

She finally got enough control of herself and took a few sips. "Can we go home now?"

"Momma, it's rainin pretty hard, and it's dark. It's too dangerous to drive right now. We need to think about spendin the night right here."

"We can leave at first light." Ennis said. "With the roads messed up like they are, it'd be best to leave in the mornin."

"But we can go home?" She looked from one to the other. "I don't wanna see no more smashed up towns! Not one more!" The tears came again then.

"Yes, Momma. We'll go home. First thing in the mornin." Jack assured her.

They ate a quiet dinner, and readied themselves for bed. Mrs. Twist in her sleeping bag on the folded down table, and Jack and Ennis, side by side, in their separate sleeping bags in the bunk. It was an awkward and uncomfortable night, with Mrs. Twist quietly crying most of it; but the dawn finally came. Breakfast was just toast and coffee, and they were on their way.

The going was slow as the area was now covered with a blanket of snow that had fallen during the night. It took them the entire day to make it back to Gillette as a full blown blizzard slowed them to a crawl.

Once inside, Mrs. Twist went immediately to her bed.

"She gonna be all right?" Ennis asked as he and Jack sipped their coffee after dinner. "She should eat somethin."

"She'll be all right. You and me are gonna see to it." Jack said. "She just needs to rest for now. Tomorrow she'll be fine."

"Seein Cheyenne hit her pretty hard."

"It did." Jack agreed. "But she's strong. She'll get over it."

"How about you? Are you okay... with everythin?" Ennis asked, worried since Jack hadn't said much at all on their long trip home.

"I'm okay." Jack assured him. "Still in shock a little bit I guess. I kinda thought that maybe... maybe Cheyenne would be okay."

"Well now we know." Ennis took his cup to the sink and rinsed it out.

"Yeah." Jack nodded. "Now we know."

"You think your momma's warm enough?" Ennis asked.

"Yeah. She's got her coat on, the blankets we found, and the sleepin bag. She'll be fine."

"I think tomorrow we should get back over to Beula's place and see about gettin some more of those shelves and canned goods." Ennis said as he sat on the edge of his bed and pulled his boots off.

"Yeah." Jack agreed, joining him. "Food and firewood is what we need to concentrate on now."

x x x x

They awoke the next morning to the smell of coffee and oatmeal cooking as Mrs. Twist puttered around the kitchen area.

"Mornin, boys." She greeted them, placing breakfast in front of each of them and joining them with some for herself. "So what are our plans for today?"

"Are you all right, Momma?" Jack reached across the table and took her hand.

"Yes; I'm fine." She sighed. "It was difficult at first for me to face the facts that the three of us are all that's left. I can see that now; and I accept it." Her expression was grim, but determined. "I just can't believe how lucky I am that I was with the two a you when this all happened. Otherwise, I'd a never made it."

Jack didn't know what to say to that so he just gave her hand a good squeeze. "The three a us, Momma... we make a good team."

"Indeed we do!" She agreed, reaching a hand out to Ennis.

Ennis took her hand, gave it a little squeeze. "Are you okay with stayin here in Gillette? Or would you rather we move up to your ranch?" He asked. "We got the pickup now, so we could haul cinder-blocks up and build us a place up there."

"Oh no, no." Another deep sigh. "That would really be foolish, I know. We need to be here where we have a much better chance of findin what we need to get by. No sense wastin all that gasoline, runnin back and forth. And what would happen if the truck broke down? We'd be in a real pickle then, stuck so far out of town."

"That's right, Momma. I think we all agree that this is where we need to be. Now if there's anythin you need or want, you just let us know, and we'll do our best to get it for you."

"Oh goodness." She smiled at them fondly. "There's not a single thing that I need except what I've already got – the two of you, and our wonderful little shelter/home."

x x x x

They spent the day as they had many days before; driving through residential areas scavenging for anything that they might need. They were about to stop for lunch when Mrs. Twist came up to them.

"Boys? I found somethin that we might get some use out of."

"What's that, Momma?" Jack and Ennis placed the few items they had found into their grocery carts they'd been wheeling from one end of the block to the other.

"It's a movin van. It's on its side, but in might have some stuff in it. I think It's worth a look. I tried, but I couldn't open the door."

"We'll get it, Mom."

"Where is it?" Ennis asked.

"Across the street. This way." She showed them to the driveway.

It took the both of them to push the door open.

"Holy cow!" Jack exclaimed. "It's packed full!"

It was on its side, but it had been packed so tightly that nothing seemed damaged. At least nothing that they could see right off.

The first four boxes they saw had 'FOOD' written on the side. They didn't even take the time to open them. They just pulled them out.

"I'll get the truck." Ennis said and took off.

"Oh, get that next box, Jackie! The one that says 'GRANDMA'S CLOTHES'. Maybe I'll be able to find somethin decent to wear." She wasn't at all happy with what she had been able to find in the suitcases from the bus. They were either to large for her, or definitely not the sort of clothing she would wear. The only suitable items that had fit her was some boys clothing.

Ennis backed the truck into the driveway, stopping the trailer a few feet in front of the moving van.

Jack opened the trailer door and began moving boxes in. Ennis joined him.

They went by what was written on the side of the boxes. Those marked 'TOYS' were set aside. Those marked 'KITCHEN' were moved over into their trailer, and there were several of those. They found some marked 'LINEN' and moved them in as well. Those marked 'VCR TAPES' were left. Then the furniture came into view.

"Oh, I love that couch!" Mrs. Twist said. "But we don't have room for it."

"Not now we don't; but come spring, we can add on to our place. Maybe then we'll have room." Ennis assured her.

"Look!" Jack called out. "Twin beds! You'll have a proper bed to sleep on, Momma! Mattresses and all!"

"Oh my goodness!" She clapped her hands together. "Beds! I do hope you find at least three."

"What's that rolled up, Jack?" Ennis asked.

"Looks like a rug; a couple of 'em."

"Get 'em."

Jack pulled one down. "It's big!"

"Good! These will help keep the floor a little warmer." Ennis gripped one end while Jack got hold of the other, and into the trailer they went.

"Here's another bed." Jack said. "Looks pretty big though. Most likely king sized."

"We won't have room for that." Ennis said once he rejoined him after doing some re-arranging in the trailer moving the beds and mattresses around to make more room.

"Oh I like that." Mrs. Twist said standing in the doorway of the van to see what she could see. "Is that another bed?"

They had to move some other items and did find another bed; full sized.

"This isn't too big. How about this one, Momma? You can have this one, and Ennis and I'll have the twin beds."

"It's wonderful! I love it!"

"There's a chest and a dresser too, Momma; but I'm afraid we won't have room for it."

"Maybe just the chest." Ennis said. "And the two a us could share the chest that goes with the twin beds."

"Good idea. I don't know where we're gonna fit them all in, with all those shelves we already have." Jack said as they carried the bed and chests into the trailer.

"We'll make room." Ennis said. "Your momma needs a chest and so do we."

There were several more boxes and items of furniture, but their trailer was just about full so they had to stop.

"Let's have some lunch!" Jack suggested as the two of them pulled the door closed. "I'm hungry."

"I am too!" Mrs. Twist said as they climbed into the camper. "You boys wash up and take a seat. I brought some a that chicken stew we all like so much. It won't take but a minute to heat it up."

x x x x

After lunch they drove back to the ranch and unloaded. First they pulled the three old beds outside, then moved everything around inside so they could put the rugs down. The two rugs didn't match, but side by side, they completely covered the floor. Their shelving units now completely filled all the wall space around the room. They would be losing the use of the bottom shelves, once they moved their furniture in, but they could be accessed if necessary. So items were put there that wouldn't be needed right away. Next, they moved in her bed, put it together, and then moved in her mattress and box springs. Then came her chest.

Then they moved in their beds, and put them together. Next their chest. Then came all the boxes.

"That van was a miracle find, Momma." Jack said as his momma was going through the box of clothing.

"It certainly was!" She agreed heartily. "I think everyone of these things is going to fit me. They might be just a little bit big, but they're perfect. I have nice warm flannel pajamas now! And there's even shoes! Not but a half size larger than I normally wear."

"Here's sheets and a mattress pad for your bed." Ennis handed her some things from the linen box he was going through. "Here." He tossed Jack an armful of items.

In no time they had their beds made up, each one with a good supply of blankets.

"We got lots a blankets left." Ennis said.

"Do we? Good." Jack said fluffing both of their pillows. "I got an idea. How about we hang a couple blankets up around momma's bed, so she can have a bit of privacy."

"Good idea, Bud. We ought to be able to figure a way to hang 'em." Ennis agreed.

"Oh, that would be nice." Mrs. Twist agreed. "And if there's any extra, it would be nice to have some to hang around the sink. We'd be able to clean up without havin to chase one another outside till we're done."

"That's a good idea too!" Jack agreed.

"We can use some a that clothes-line we been collectin." Ennis offered.

"I wonder what else is in that van?" Mrs. Twist said as she began opening the kitchen boxes. She found dishes, pots and pans, utensils, and best of all, some cook books. "Oh, it's going to be nice to be able to eat off a dishes again." She said holding up a plate. "Not that I'm complainin. Those camp dishes are real nice too. We can leave them in the camper now, and won't have to pack 'em up every time we go somewhere."

They had one box of kitchen items to take back to the van. They were electrical appliances; toaster, can opener, mixer, an electric coffee pot. With no electricity, they'd have no use for them.

The food boxes had a wide assortment of canned and boxed goods, along with spices and packaged food like pasta, dry beans, sugar and flour.

By the time they finished re-arranging everything, it was dark outside. What had started out as a horribly sad day for them, turned into the best day yet.

Jack and Ennis kept the fire going in the stove until they were sure that Mrs. Twist was asleep, then they went to bed. Their beds were closer together now with the shelving units behind them. They were glad of that.

"If we could find more blankets, we could hang some across our area, and we'd have a little privacy too." Jack said.

"Yeah; that'd be nice." Ennis agreed. "We don't have that many though."

"I know." Jack sighed as he pulled his boots off. "We'll keep lookin. We might find some more."

"Uh huh." Ennis nodded. "It'd be nice if we could find some campers. They usually have stuff like that."

"Maybe we should head west, toward the Powder River. There's campin there. We might find some campers." Jack suggested.

"Good idea, Bud. We should try that, maybe after we finish goin through that van tomorrow."

"Oh, this bed feels so good!" Jack said after lying down and stretching out.

"Yep." Ennis agreed. "We're all gonna sleep a lot better tonight."

CHAPTER 5

The next day going through the van, they didn't find as much as the day before, but they did find some boxes marked, 'DAD'S CLOTHES', some marked, 'GRANDPA'S CLOTHES', and some marked 'MOM'S CLOTHES'. They took those along with a couple boxes of books, and a small kitchen table and four chairs.

They finished going through the van, and were back home for lunch. They swapped out the picnic table for the smaller table and chairs, and went through the boxes. They ended up with an assortment of clothing they could use. Mostly of use was MOM'S and GRANDPA'S, as 'DAD's was mostly suits and dress shirts and shoes. However, there were flannel pajamas and underwear in both men's boxes, and that was a big help. They boxed up what they couldn't use and took it back to the van after lunch.

"So how far is it to the Powder?" Ennis asked as they ate their lunch.

"About thirty or forty miles." Jack said.

"Are we goin fishin?" Mrs. Twist asked.

"That'd be a good idea, Momma; but we don't have any gear."

"Oh that's right." She said as she gathered their empty dishes and carried them to the sink.

"We might find some there." Ennis said as he carried his coffee cup to the sink.

"That's right." Jack said, finishing the last of his coffee and bringing his cup over to be washed as well. "It was September when the storm hit. I'll bet a lot a people were out there fishin. We ought to be able to find some gear."

x x x x

In fact, they found more than they could possibly use. They geared up, tossed their lines into the water, and set about going through the campers, trucks, and cars that were all tumbled around the area. They found all sorts of good things, including plenty of blankets. They also found several camping lanterns, extra batteries, flashlights, firewood, camp-stoves, and canisters of propane. Every vehicle seemed to have something they needed.

"This was a really good idea, Jack." Ennis said as they loaded up their find.

"I think you caught somethin." Mrs. Twist called to them.

Sure enough, they each had a nice sized fish on their lines.

"We should toss one back." Jack said. "We don't have any way to freeze 'em."

"We could fry one up tonight for dinner, and make some fish stew for tomorrow." Ennis said, reluctant to part with either good-sized fish.

"Oh, that sounds wonderful!" Mrs. Twist said. "You know, I was flippin through one a those cookbooks we got, and there's a section there on cannin things. There might be a way to can 'em. I've been savin all a those cannin jars we got from Beula's place."

"Can you can meat?" Jack asked.

"My momma used to." Ennis said. "She used to can all kinds a meat."

"My momma did too." Mrs. Twist said. "I never did though, 'cause I had a freezer. But I know it can be done."

"That would be great!" Jack said. "And maybe we could catch some a those chickens we saw. I sure do like fried chicken."

"I doubt they'd be tender enough to fry, Jackie; but we sure could stew 'em."

"Yum!" Ennis said. "I'm gettin hungry. We about ready to head on home?"

x x x x

With the extra lanterns, they had plenty of light now. When they were all together at the table, they used only the one lantern. But now they had one for each area. Mrs. Twist had one that she could keep on the chest next to her bed, Jack and Ennis had one they used in their area, there was one for the porta potty, and half a dozen more to keep in reserve—back behind some of that furniture that was blocking shelving.

The next day they worked at hanging the privacy blankets.

"You know, Momma; this sink is big and deep enough to use as a bath tub at four-foot by two-foot. You could take a bath; we could too if we just set this trough down on the floor."

"Oh, that would be so nice!" She said. "I actually thought about that, but it was way to high. It didn't occur to me you could just set it on the floor."

"We'll need to set it on some two-by-fours so we don't mess up the drain line, but that won't be no problem. We got lots a small pieces a that around." Ennis said. "A bath sure would feel good!"

"Let's do it then!" Jack enthused. "First let's bring in a load a firewood. I wanna get this place as warm as we can get it."

"I'll put some water on to heat." Mrs. Twist offered.

"I'll get the two-by-fours." Ennis said.

x x x x

It took hours to accomplish, but they all felt much better after their first hot bath, and clean clothes. It put them all in a much better mood.

"We need to keep an eye out now for more clothes-line." Ennis said as they were eating dinner. "We used up most a what we had."

"Yeah, but it sure was worth it." Jack said enjoying every bite of his fish stew.

"I been readin while the two a you were cleanin up." Mrs. Twist said. "I found the instructions for cannin meat. Mostly what we'll need is lots a salt. We gotta make a brine to soak it in before cannin."

"Would that work for game meat too?" Ennis asked.

"Oh yes. The book has instructions for cannin all different kinds a meat." She said.

"Are you thinkin elk?" Jack asked.

"I am." Ennis nodded. "It sure would be nice to have."

"If we're gonna go huntin, we'd better go before it gets too much colder." Jack suggested.

"That's what I was thinkin." Ennis agreed.

"Oh boy! I love elk meat!" Mrs. Twist said.

"You think we got everythin we need? Enough to can a elk?" Ennis asked.

"We've got a lot a those cannin jars, and there was a lot a empties back at Bulea's." She said. "We'll need a bunch a those sealin lids, but if I know Beula, I'll bet she's got plenty. We need to look for 'em when we go for the jars."

"We can always make some jerky." Jack suggested.

"That's a good idea." Ennis agreed. "So when can everyone be ready to go?"

"Oh goodness." Mrs. Twist said. "How about tomorrow mornin?"

"Sounds good to me." Jack said.

"Tomorrow mornin it is then." Ennis agreed, eager to be up in the mountains, and away from the constant reminders every day of the ruins that surrounded them.

x x x x

"Look at the size a that buck!" Jack whispered.

"Yeah, Ennis whispered back. "I ain't aimin for him though. That's way too much meat. I'm goin for that smaller one over to the right, soon as that doe gets outta the way."

"Oh, this is so excitin." Mrs. Twist whispered. "I never been huntin before."

Ennis took his shot, startling both Jack and his mom.

"Got him." Ennis said, pleased. "This sure is a nice rifle. I never had one with a scope on it before."

"Great!" Jack said as they began to skin the animal. "Once we get this one butchered and canned, we can go get us some more fish, now that we know we can can 'em."

"Sure enough. If we can come up with enough jars." Ennis agreed.

"We need to start collectin and savin every jar we come to; pickle jars, mayonnaise jars, all of 'em." Mrs. Twist said as the men worked. "Any a those jars will work, as long as they got good tight lids."

x x x x

As they came down out of the Big Horns, they stopped in Buffalo for lunch. It was cold out, but not freezing.

"We should take a look around before we head home." Jack suggested.

"Hold it." Ennis said as Jack drove.

"What'd you see?" Jack asked.

"What's that stickin up out a that mess a cars over by them trees. Don't that look like a winch? The kind you see on the back of a tow truck?"

"It does." Jack agreed as he pulled the truck over closer.

"That's sure enough a tow truck all right." Ennis said as they looked the wreckage over.

"You think we can get it out a there?" Jack asked.

"What do we need a tow truck for?" Mrs. Twist asked.

"It could help us get into some a those grocery stores by pullin those roof beams out a the way. That winch could save us a lot a searchin." Ennis explained.

"You wanna un-hook the trailer and see if we can pull some a these other vehicles out a the way?" Jack asked.

"Yeah; I think we should."

They needed to pull four cars out of the way before they could get to it, but there it sat, up against a tree, with very little damage to it. Ennis jumped in and started the engine. It hummed to life immediately.

"Oh, man; it works!" Jack grinned.

"It sure enough does!" Ennis grinned back. He then drove the truck up on the road and parked it next to their truck.

"Let's get the trailer hitched and head on home." Ennis suggested as he hopped out. "Tomorrow we'll see what this little beauty can do for us."

CHAPTER 6

It was cold, windy, and rainy by the time they got back home.

"Brrrr." Jack shivered as he came back from the porta-potty. "It's nice and warm up close to our stove, but it sure doesn't warm this place up as much as I thought it would."

"That's cause it's made out a cinder-block." Ennis explained. "It's just like concrete; it'll block the wind, and keep the snow and rain of a you, but you need to seal it to keep the dampness out. And we don't have the stuff we need to seal it."

"Where would we get somethin like that?" Jack asked.

"Paint store." Ennis said.

"What about Home Depot? They sell paint." Jack suggested.

"I been thinkin a that. That's one a the possibilities a usin our tow truck. We might be able to pull enough a those broken concrete slabs out a the way for us to get inside and see what we could find. It's a matter a what we need more right now; more food, or tryin to find some sealer." Ennis said.

"Oh, that sounds so dangerous." Mrs. Twist squirmed uneasily in her chair.

"We know enough to be careful." Jack promised her.

x x x x

They spent the next day processing the elk meat. They left one large roast out for dinner, and kept on working until every last scrap of meat was canned.

"Oh, this is so good!" Mrs. Twist said at dinner. "I just love elk."

"It is really good, Momma. I just hope what we canned turns out as well."

"It will. I'm sure of it." She smiled confidently. "I just wish we had some more cannin jars. I was hopin we'd be able to go get us some more fish, but we used up all the jars we had."

"Yeah, that'd be good to have." Ennis nodded. "Maybe we can find some. We still got a lot a neighborhoods to go through. And it'd really be nice on a cold night like this to have some good old fish stew."

"We really should try and get into some restaurants. They'd have all sorts of spices and things a that sort we need." Mrs. Twist informed them. "There's lots a recipes in that cook book that I'd like to try, but I don't have the ingredients I need."

"If this weather would just hold off a bit." Jack said.

"And there's somethin else too." Mrs. Twist added as she stared into her coffee cup. "I didn't say anythin before because I think it's probably hopeless."

"What is it, Momma?"

"I wanna go to Sheridan." She announced. "You remember me tellin your about Ruth and Myra Nichols? My friends from school? That's where they live now, or... lived, in a little trailer park. "

"You want us to go check on 'em?" Ennis asked.

"Yes, but that's not the only thing. I don't know what it is, but somethin keeps makin me think we should go to Sheridan. I can't explain it."

Jack and Ennis exchanged looks.

"We might as well take a drive up there." Ennis said.

"Oh, could we?" She was delighted. "And another thing, we should take the time to look around the older area in Sheridan. I'm sure most a those homes would have basements. Maybe we could find some more cannin jars. September was prime cannin time. We might even find more canned food. Or if we find empty jars, we'd have them to can some fish."

"Okay, Momma. We're sold." Jack grinned.

"There's enough a this roast left over. I'll wrap it up for our lunch tomorrow." She grinned.

x x x x

"What's on your mind?" Jack asked later as they sat in front of the stove. Mrs. Twist was already asleep and they were keeping the stove going just a little bit longer to keep the place as warm as they could for as long as they could.

"Somethin your momma said." Ennis spoke quietly so as to not disturb Mrs. Twist. "It put my mind to wanderin."

"What'd she say?"

"She said her friends lived in a little trailer. And I got to thinkin about my old trailer. It was old, and a real dump, but it was warm. What if we could find us one that wasn't too damaged? We could pull it here with the tow truck, and maybe move it right up next to this place, have the back door right next to our front door."

"You mean move into it?" Jack asked.

"Yeah."

"Aren't those dangerous though, when it storms and the wind gets up? They're always sayin on TV for anyone livin in those things should get to a safer place until the storm is over." Jack worried.

"I was thinkin about that. What if we bricked it in? There's still tons a those cinder-blocks in town. We could connect it all up. Live in the trailer part, and keep this place for storage. Think a all the food we could store. With the furniture moved out, we could put more shelves in. Make this part like a grocery store. And with it bricked all in, a trailer'd be just as safe as this place is; and it would be insulated."

"Hmmm," Jack thought about it a minute. "You mean move our stove in?"

"Uh huh. In an insulated place, it would stay a lot warmer. I worry about your momma in all this dampness. Is she prone to colds?"

"No, not really." Jack admitted. "But it sure would be nice to have a bigger place. We could have our own room."

"Uh huh. There'd be lots more room."

"We wouldn't be able to hook up the water to it though; would we?" Jack asked.

"No; we'd still have to hand pump whatever we needed; but we're doin that already."

"True." Jack agreed. "It'd be worth lookin around the place when we go check on Momma's friends tomorrow. You think the tow truck is strong enough to haul one a those trailers?"

"Maybe not a huge one; but I'll bet it could handle one a those smaller ones as long as we take it nice and easy. I think it's worth a try."

"I agree." Jack said as they headed for bed.

x x x x

The next day was cold, but clear as they headed toward Sheridan. Ennis insisted that he drive the tow truck just in case they came across a situation where they might need it. They did. They had not quite reached Sheridan and were still in the outskirts of town when they came to a tangle of about twenty vehicles. They stopped and got out to take a look.

"Hey, look at that motor home!" Jack pointed to the side of the road.

"It's a beauty, all right." Ennis agreed as they carried to their trailer, some items that they had gotten from the car trunks they had been going through.

"It's not nearly as good lookin as our pretty red one is." Mrs. Twist said.

"It's bigger though, Momma."

"Wouldn't hurt to take a look." Ennis said.

"Don't look like it's hardly been touched." Jack said as they walked up to it.

"It does look bigger." Mrs. Twist admitted.

"Looks like it got dinged a few times." Ennis said looking over the exterior. "Don't look like nothin serious though. That trailer on behind looks mighty fine too."

"It's a diesel!" Jack announced as they got close enough to see.

"That'd be good." Ennis said. "I heard tell that regular gasoline goes bad after a few months, though I never had any long enough to know if that's true or not. Diesel doesn't do that."

Jack pulled the driver's door open and climbed in. He turned the key and it started right up.

"Let's get a look inside." Ennis suggested. "I wanna see how it's so much bigger than ours."

The three a them climbed inside.

"I like that it's got a side door." Mrs. Twist commented. "It's a lot better than climbin over that hitch all the time."

It was really tight and crowded at first until Jack started pushing buttons, and the sides both slid out. When the back slid out too, they were all amazed.

"Oh man!" Jack said. "I heard about slide-outs, but I never seen 'em before. Look how much room it leaves!"

"And look; it's got a couch across the back!" Mrs. Twist said. "I wonder if it makes into a bed?"

"I bet it does, Momma."

"Everythin's bigger." Ennis noticed. "The dinette is bigger, the stove and refrigerator are bigger."

"And look at this bunk!" Jack said as he hopped up on it. "It's huge! And there's storage all around."

"Even the little bathroom is bigger." Mrs. Twist said. "But what are we gonna do with our old one? We're not gonna just leave it; are we?"

"We won't need it no more, Momma. This one's a lot bigger and nicer."

"But I could drive it." She said.

"Pullin a trailer?" Ennis asked.

"I could do it! It's not like we'd be goin anywhere real fast. Even out on the highway, we have to take it slow 'cause of all the wrecked vehicles. It'd be a shame to just dump it. Just think a all the stuff we could bring back in one trip if we had both a these."

Jack looked at Ennis and got a shrug.

"We don't hardly ever get above forty miles an hour; and it'd be good to have." Ennis said.

"We know now sooner or later we'll be able to get into some grocery stores, and there will be loads to bring back. With you drivin this one, and me drivin our other one pullin the smaller trailer, we could bring back nearly twice as much."

"Well... all right, Momma. We can try it." Jack agreed reluctantly. "But if you get the least bit tired, or scared, or anythin, you _promise_ you'll honk the horn, and we'll stop and rest."

"I promise, Jackie." She gave him a peck on the cheek.

"We can keep her in between us, Bud." Ennis suggested. "One a us will lead, she can follow, and the other can follow behind her to make sure she's all right."

"All right." Jack agreed. "I like that. Let's take a look and see what's in that nice big trailer."

The trailer was empty and they were just as glad; it saved them the unloading of it.

"This is really a find." Ennis said as they looked at the nice clean interior.

"We ought to be able to get a ton a stuff in there." Jack agreed as they closed the door.

"How far is it to your friends trailer park?" Ennis asked.

"It's real easy to find." Mrs. Twist said. "You just stay on this main road until you come to the town square. You take the first left, right after. That's Johnson Street; but I doubt there'll be any signs left standin. Stay on Johnson's Street for about three or four miles until you come to this big lot that's full a trailers for sale. That'll be on the left. You turn right on that corner and go about a mile or so and there it is. It's called Leisure Living for Seniors. There's a big ole sign out front, but that's probably down. There's a bunch a pine trees all around. We should be able to spot it once we get out that far."

"Sounds easy enough to find." Ennis said. "You wanna lead, or you want me to?" He asked Jack.

"You lead. I wanna drive behind Momma so I can keep an eye on her."

"Oh Jackie! I'm just fine." She insisted.

"I know you are, Momma; but I aim to see that you stay that way. I figure you'll drive a lot more careful if you know I'm right behind you." He grinned at her and gave her a hug.

x x x x

Johnson Street was easy enough to find, and so was the turn-off across from the trailer lot. Ennis took a good long look at the trailers as he passed. Some were on their sides, some were mangled beyond recognition; but others were merely leaning against one another, and didn't look too bad at all.

He stopped when he came to the group of pine trees. He could see the sign was down, but it was leaning sideways up against the fence and could still be read.

Mrs. Twist and Jack got out and joined Ennis, speaking to him through the truck window.

"I'll lead from here." Mrs. Twist said. "I'm pretty sure I can find it. It's over toward that way." She and Jack got back into their vehicles.

Ennis waited and let them pass before falling in behind them.

After a short ride, Mrs. Twist pulled over and got out. The others joined her.

"This is her place." She gave a sad little look around the empty lot.

"Are you sure, Momma?"

"There's her mail box there on the ground. Number seventeen and those are her holly-hocks."

"Seventeen?" Ennis asked surprised.

"Uh huh." She and Jack both looked up at Ennis.

"What?" Jack asked.

"Oh nothin. It's just kind a funny is all. The number a my lot in Riverton was seventeen."

Mrs. Twist brightened. "Oh, it's a sign!" She placed a hand over her heart. "I just knew it! I knew we needed to come."

"A sign a what, Momma?" Jack was grinning.

"I don't know yet; but we'll see. For sure, we were meant to come here today." She took off walking, looking around.

"You believe in all a that? Signs and stuff?" Jack asked as they followed after her.

"I don't know, Bud." Ennis shook his head. "Lots a stuff has been happenin these last couple a months that I never thought possible before."

"True." Jack agreed.

"Seems kind a funny that both our numbers turn out to be seventeen." Ennis mumbled as he followed after Mrs. Twist along side Jack.

"I s'pose." Jack said. "But darned if I know what Momma thinks it's a sign of."

"It don't matter. We'll find out." Ennis assured him.

"There it is!" She pointed to a trailer that lay on it's side some distance from the foundations.

Ennis and Jack climbed up on top, and lifted the door open.

"Is there anything in particular you want us to look for, Momma?" Jack called down to her.

"No, nothin special. Just food, I guess. Be sure and look for spices. Oh, I know they both quilted, so you might pick up some a those if you find any."

"Okay. You stay right here now, Momma. Don't go wanderin off."

Everything was a mess inside, as they knew it would be. They climbed down in, trying to avoid walking on the windows, and other shattered items lying around.

The first thing they spotted was a couple quilts on the couch. Jack gathered them up and placed them in the doorway. They made their way into the kitchen. The cabinets holding the dishes had opened, so there was a massive pile of broken china to wade through. The cabinet that held the food, was still closed. Though things were jumbled up, they were all in good shape.

"We need somethin to carry all a this in." Ennis looked around.

"How about pillow cases?" Jack suggested and headed back into a bedroom. He came back out with two pillow cases, and handed them to Ennis to load up. "There's probably another bedroom down the other end." He said and headed carefully toward it. He came back with two more pillow cases. It took all four of them to load up the groceries they found. They also found a plastic mop bucket, which they loaded up with cleansers, and a stack of towels they stuck in a laundry cart and pulled out. Two more quilts were found in the bedrooms, and they were finished.

Mrs. Twist was waiting anxiously for them to come out again. When they did, she was pleased with all they had found. They loaded it all up and headed to the next trailer.

It was a small trailer park, so it only took them a little over an hour to go through all that they deemed safe enough to enter.

"I wanna stop at that trailer lot when we leave." Ennis said as they rested a minute.

"What for?" Mrs. Twist asked. "None a them were ever lived in. There won't be any food in any of 'em."

"We're thinkin a maybe pullin one back home with us to live in, Momma. What would you think a that?"

"Oh... I hadn't given that a thought. What about our place?"

"We're thinkin a connectin them together, usin 'em both." Ennis said as they all loaded up again and headed out.

They drove over to the far side of the lot, where several trailers were leaning together, and didn't look like they sustained too much damage.

They found one in the middle called, 'THE ROOM MATE'. The sign on it said it was a sixty footer, two-bedroom, two-bathroom. They managed to squeeze in between, and got the door open enough to squeeze inside. They had to help Mrs. Twist as there were no stairs. Ennis went in first, Jack set his momma up in the doorway, then Ennis helped her up, and Jack climbed in.

"Oh my god!" Ennis gasped. "A fireplace!"

"A fireplace?" Mrs. Twist was just as shocked. "I didn't know you could have a fire place in a trailer home."

"For real?" Jack asked. "You think it works, or is it just ornamental?"

Ennis bent down, looked up inside, fiddled around and found the damper. "It's real all right." He grinned.

"Oh my goodness!" Mrs. Twist marveled. "Wouldn't that be wonderful to have!"

"Let's look around." Jack suggested.

The doorway they came in through, led into the living room. Off to the left was the kitchen/dining area. There was a nice double sink, lots of cabinets and counter space, and a big gaping open area where a stove was supposed to sit, and a refrigerator next to it. Another empty area right next to the sink where a dishwasher was supposed to go.

"There's enough room here to fit our wood stove in." Ennis noticed.

"And we could keep our box a wood right there where a dishwasher is supposed to go." Jack added.

"Oh, look at all this cabinet space!" Mrs. Twist opened each and every cabinet door. "So much room!"

"Let's get a look at the bedrooms." Jack suggested.

In the hallway to the left of the kitchen was a place where a washer/dryer, and hot water heater was supposed to go. Opposite that was the back door. Down the hall way just a bit was the first bedroom. It was really nice sized at eleven by fourteen, and had two doors off the back. One led into a bathroom with a large garden tub, the other led into a walk-in closet.

"Tons of room in here." Mrs. Twist said. "And just look at that tub!"

"Let's see what the other bedroom looks like." Jack suggested and they trooped down the hall, crossed the kitchen and living room, and into the second bedroom. The layout and size were exactly the same as the first.

"This is amazing!" Jack said as they once again found themselves in the living room. "You really think we can pull this thing back to the ranch?"

"Don't know." Ennis admitted as he once again was going over the fireplace. "But we're sure gonna try. I never dreamed we'd find one with a fireplace in it."

"Me neither." Jack said.

"Oh, I hope it works!" Mrs. Twist said. "Just think what it would be like livin in a place like this!"

Outside again, they looked to see how difficult it was going to be to pull it out from between the trailers that had it penned in.

"Are we gonna have to move these other four that're leanin against it?" Jack asked.

"I hope not." Ennis said. "Let's just hitch it up and see what we can do. At least we got chains now with the tow truck." He jumped into the tow truck, backed it around, and they began connecting it. "Well, here goes nothin." Ennis said as he climbed back in.

Jack and his mom waited a good distance away, fearing that the trailers leaning against the one they wanted would probably come crashing down when they pulled it out.

At first, nothing happened.

"Oh, I hope it works! It's just got to work!" She twisted her hands together nervously as they waited.

The tow truck engine revved up, and slowly began to inch forward accompanied by the screech of metal on metal.

Ennis kept on going until the trailer was free. "Not too bad." He said after getting out and checking on the damage.

The other trailers didn't fall, but they did waver a bit. Most of the damage was on the trailer right next to the one they wanted as it was open-sided, a part of a double wide. The damage done to their trailer was mainly minor dents and scrapes in the siding.

"That won't matter none at all." Jack was sayin. "Once we get it all bricked in, you won't even see any a that."

"And you think you'll be able to pull it all the way home?" Mrs. Twist asked Ennis.

"Don't see why not. Long as we take it nice and easy, and with the roads the way they are, nice and easy is the only way we can drive."

"How about we have us some lunch before we head home." Jack suggested. "I'm starvin!"

"Oh yes, let's do!" Mrs. Twist agreed.

"Good idea." Ennis agreed.

They all went into their motor home, and devoured the roast elk, with vegetables, and coffee Mrs. Twist fixed. They were filled with excited chatter. Jack and Ennis were ready to head back home, but Mrs. Twist thought they should stay a little longer, and have a look around Sheridan. After all, that's why they came.

"That's fine with me." Ennis said. "We can leave the trailer in the town square, and pick it up when we're ready to head home."

The trip to town square was slow and arduous, but they made it without too much effort. They spent the rest of the afternoon going through all the older neighborhoods looking for basements that were easily accessible. They found many, and a lot of items they could use; especially canning jars, some full, and some empty. Both were greatly appreciated.

"You really think we'll be able to connect the two buildings together?" Mrs. Twist was asking Ennis as they ate dinner that evening in Sheridan's town square.

"Sure we can." Ennis said after sipping his coffee. "It'll have to wait until spring though. I think it's too cold now for the cement to set up for those cinder-blocks; but we can still get the trailer house right up next to our place. We'll fix it so that the trailer's back door opens up to our front door. We can do a little bit of carpentry there and close in the connected area for now. We still got lots a scrap wood around, and a bunch a those nails you straightened out for us."

"Oh, it's going to be so wonderful!" She positively glowed.

"We'll still have to carry water from the hand pump, Momma; and there won't be any electricity, remember."

"Oh I don't care about that." She said. "We're already doin that. Just a chance to live in that lovely trailer home! How lucky we are!"

"It was all your idea." Ennis said. "I'd a never thought a comin to Sheridan. At least not for some time."

"Well, I just knew we needed to come here." She smiled at both of them. "I'm so glad we decided to spend the night. That'll give us a lot more time to look around tomorrow."

x x x x

"This is what we need!" Ennis said more to himself than to the others, but they stopped what they were doing and joined him in a dark corner of the basement they were in.

"What did you find?" Jack asked.

"Metal ceiling tiles!" Ennis said. "A whole box of 'em."

"What are we gonna do with those?" Mrs. Twist asked.

"We need a metal shield back behind our wood stove. This is what we'll use." He pulled a box out. "Look around and see if you can find any nails. These take tiny nails. It may not work if we can't find any."

Jack headed over to the work bench and called back. "Lots a nails over here; all sizes."

"Great!" Ennis went over and took a look. "See if you can find somethin to hold 'em and load up any nails, screws, and washers you can find. No tellin if we'll need 'em or not, but we don't wanna have to drive all this way again if we find out we do need 'em."

"Here's some caulk!" Jack called out as Ennis was carrying the box of metal tiles up the steps. "Great!"

That particular basement had tons of items they could use, and they loaded it all up.

"That looks like a little grocery store." Jack said as they were driving around.

"It does." Ennis agreed and they pulled over.

The three of them were now riding around in their motor home as they had completely filled the smaller trailer on Mrs. Twist truck and left it in the town square along side the tow truck and house trailer.

"And across the street there's what looks like a little restaurant." Mrs. Twist pointed to a broken 'Cafe' sign leaning against some debris.

"Good. We'll try that next after this place." Ennis said as Jack pulled the truck around into the parking lot behind the store.

"The place is bigger than it looks." Jack said.

"It is." Ennis said taking a good look. "Looks like the roof is completely detached and sittin on it crooked."

"You think we could pull it off?" Jack asked.

"Well, this is what we been lookin for." Ennis said. "We need to go back to the square and get the tow truck."

"Oh, I hope it works!" Mrs. Twist said as they rode back. "I would dearly love to get just one big bunch a groceries, so we can head on back home, and get out trailer house set up."

"We'll do that later this afternoon, whether we are able to get that roof off or not." Jack said. "We can always come back another day."

"Yeah;" Ennis agreed. "We do need to go home this afternoon. We don't wanna be out on the road with that trailer house if another storm hits, and those roads get iced up."

"It really hasn't been all that bad for November." Mrs. Twist said. "And next week is Thanksgivin. It's gonna be so much fun comin up with a big dinner and all the trimmins. I just love cookin on that stove."

"We'll be all moved into our trailer home by then, Momma. We got a lot to be thankful for this year."

"We certainly do!" She agreed with him.

Ennis and Jack both jumped out and began unhitching the house trailer from the tow truck. It took a little time, but finally it was free, and they made their way back to the grocery store.

They dug the chains out, climbed up on the pile and fastened them around the main beam. In no time, the roof, with the splintering of wood and a loud crash, landed in the back parking lot.

It took very little effort and not much digging. The first thing they found was the front counter and a rack of plastic bags. They hauled it with them as they dug their way through to rack after rack of canned goods, bagging it all up and handing it down to Mrs. Twist who stood just outside the ring of debris.

"You boys are filthy!" Mrs. Twist greeted them with a little laugh when they finally came out covered in dust from head to toe. "But as long as the two a you are all right, it was worth it. Just look in the back a this trailer. It's almost full!"

The guys did their best to brush themselves off, gave her a grin, and Jack informed her, "Momma, we aren't but about half way done. There's a ton more in there. We just came up for air, and a drink a water."

"We need to do a little rearrangin in here." Ennis said as he entered the trailer. "Let's stack all a these bags that have canned goods."

"And the pasta and packaged stuff can go on top a that." Jack said.

Soon they had the back fixed so there was a lot more room. Then they accepted the bottled water Mrs. Twist handed them, and walked around a little stretching their legs and backs while they drank.

It took them the rest of the morning to empty the little store. The last things they brought out were several large bottles of water which they promptly used to fill the water tank on the motor home. They saved the empty bottles, so they can refill them from their pump, and take them with them when they went out again.

x x x x

They headed back to the town square and re-connected the house trailer to the tow truck while Mrs. Twist fixed lunch.

"We need to head on home." Ennis said as they finished eating.

"But we hardly scratched the surface here. We never even got to the restaurant. There must be tons more food out there!" Mrs. Twist said.

"Momma, our trailers and campers are both full." Jack reminded her.

"It's gonna be a long and difficult drive pullin that house trailer." Ennis said.

"And we're beat, Momma." Jack added.

"Oh, of course you are. I'm sorry. I didn't even think a that." She apologized.

"We can come back again. Long as the weather don't get too bad." Jack said.

"Sure enough." Ennis agreed. "But I wanna spend a little time connecting the trailer with our place first."

"Oh yes! And we'll need to get the stove moved over. And all our things. This is so excitin!"

"Well, you got yourself to thank, Momma. This was all your idea." Jack grinned at her. "We'd a been happy just huntin around Gillette for more food. Instead a doin that, we end up with a beautiful motor home with a much larger trailer than we had, a beautiful house trailer to live in, and a stop that got us at least a ton a groceries."

"It's going to be so nice havin a real fireplace to sit in front of on cold nights." She said. "I do enjoy sittin in front of our stove, but it can't compare to a real, actual fireplace."

"I agree." Jack said.

"Course that means we'll need to get out and gather up some more firewood." Ennis said. "Now that we have a fireplace, it's gonna go a lot faster than it has been."

"Yeah, but there's a lot a that around. That's gonna be easy to do. We need to go back to Beula James place and get what's out there." Jack said. "How difficult do you think it's gonna be to get the trailer hooked up to our place?"

"Don't know." Ennis shrugged. "Can't tell that until we start workin on it. We'll get the two as close together as we can, then fill the space between 'em with some a that left over barn wood."

"What about installin the stove in the new kitchen. Is that gonna be much of a job?" Mrs. Twist asked.

"The hardest part will probably be getting it moved over." Ennis said. "We'll have to take it apart again, and maybe build us a ramp between the two buildins. There's gonna be a height difference we gotta deal with. The trailer is a good two-foot higher than our place."

"Well at least we got steps for the front." Jack said. "I'm glad you thought a that before we left the lot."

"I can hardly wait to get home and get started." Mrs. Twist said as she got up and started cleaning the lunch dishes.

They headed for home right after lunch. The hundred mile trip took a little over three hours. The trip was strenuous, but they were exhilarated when they finally pulled up into their driveway.

"We made it!" The three of them hugged each other, giddy with relief that the tow truck had done its job.

They relaxed a bit, enjoying a cup of coffee, before tackling the positioning of the house trailer.

It took four passes, but Ennis' years of taxiing stock trailers around, stood him in good stead, and he managed to get the trailer, nice and evenly, a foot and a half from the building. That was as close as he could get it, as the eaves scraped along the edge of the trailer on his final pass.

"Oh, it's perfect! It's perfect!" Mrs. Twist was elated.

"That's about all I got left in me for one day." Ennis said as he eyed his work. "We can't get any closer without trimin those eaves."

"We don't need to do that." Jack said. "If we just build a little somethin around the passageway, and put some steps or a ramp in there, it'll be just perfect."

They opened the front door of the trailer, pulled the steps out, and put them in place. "These steps ain't much, but at least it'll get us in and out for now." Ennis said. "Later on, we'll put us up a hand rail. And if we can find enough lumber, we can even make us a porch."

"I don't know how it can be any more perfect than it already is." Mrs. Twist said. "But a porch will be real nice. Especially next spring and summer."

"We probably won't get to it before then anyway." Ennis said.

"You be careful goin into our place from here, Momma." Jack opened the back door of the house trailer and then the front door of their place. "There's a real big step here." He hopped down and lifted her down. "We'll get somethin fixed up tomorrow."

CHAPTER 7

The steps were built the next day, as well as a rough enclosure connecting the two buildings.

"So, any ideas on how we're gonna get the stove over to the other side?" Jack asked at dinner.

"I been thinkin on that." Ennis said as he mopped up the remainder of his beef stew with a home made biscuit. "There's no way we can take it across the connecting steps. Our little trailer has a pull-out ramp. I figure we could back it up to the back door here, you and me shove it up the ramp into the trailer; then drive it around the front, extend the ramp up to the front door a the trailer, and we shove it in that way."

"Hmmmm" Jack mulled it over. "That should work. It's gonna take a lot a shovin though."

"Yeah," Ennis grinned after sipping his coffee. "But it'll be worth it."

The ramp on that trailer was a real life saver. It worked like a charm. It wasn't easy, it took a lot of muscle power, but they finally got the stove into the new kitchen. It took very little time to nail up the metal tiles behind it. The stove pipe was pretty easy too as there was already a vent hole above. They had to enlarge it a little, but that wasn't too difficult. They only had half a tube of caulking, and used every bit of it, inside and out, to make sure there'd be no leaks.

Mrs. Twist was ecstatic with her new kitchen.

"Next problem is gonna be the drain line." Ennis sighed as the two of them sat on the kitchen floor and rested for a few minutes.

"What do we need to get one set up?" Jack asked.

"At least a three-inch pipe." Ennis explained. "There's a lot a that around, it's in almost every pile a debris we come to, but it's the connectors for it we don't have."

"There aren't any a those in the debris?" Mrs. Twist asked.

"There are, but they can't be re-used. You gotta have new ones, and a special glue." Ennis said.

"I see. Is there anythin else we can use in it's place?" She asked.

"I don't know." Ennis shook his head. "I'm all out a ideas right now."

"And we can't just use a garden hose like we been doin?" She asked.

"Not without wreckin all that nice new plumbin they got set up under the house." He answered. "It's all set up so there's just one drain line. If we can come up with that, we'd have the use of the toilets, as well as a drain for the sinks and bath tubs."

"Oh, I see." She was deep in thought.

"It's a shame they don't make garden hoses that big." Jack said. "We got tons a those lying all over the place."

"Yeah, but they don't make hoses that big... except..." Ennis sat bolt upright.

"What?" Jack asked. "Except what? Did you come up with somethin?"

"I know where there's hoses that big! On a fire truck!" Ennis stood and began to pace. "We saw a fire truck; where was it? Was that in Sheridan, or here in Gillette?"

"That was here; we passed it on the way to Home Depot." Mrs. Twist answered.

"That's right!" Ennis said. "C'mon. Let's go!"

x x x x

What they found was a twelve-hundred foot three-inch hose, and another twelve-hundred foot of four- inch hose. More than enough to reach the little over a quarter of a mile out to a lower back corner of the ranch that fell away to a rocky ravine. It took a bit of fiddling before they managed to get it hooked up, and hoped it would all hold together. They worried that snow might collapse the hose and keep it from draining, so they gathered all the rain gutters they could find in town to cover the hose and keep it from being pressed down flat from the pressure of the snow. They waited until the next day to try it out.

"Oh, it's gotta work! It's just gotta work!" Mrs. Twist wrung her hands.

"It will, Momma." Jack promised her.

"Okay now; give us ten minutes to get out there, then let the water out." Ennis instructed.

Jack and Ennis jumped in their truck and raced to the back corner, and waited. Nothing happened.

"Oh shit!" Ennis gave a disgusted kick at a clump of dirt.

They were about to leave, when a trickle of water began to appear.

"Here it comes!" Jack said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Maybe the kitchen sink wasn't enough water to test it with. We should a filled one a the bath tubs." Ennis said while they waited anxiously as the trickle eventually stopped.

"It worked!" Jack said. "That's the important thing. Once we start runnin more and more water through it, it'll probably work a lot faster. Let's go ask momma how fast it drained."

"Okay. But this time, let's fill up both tubs, toilets, and the sink. We'll have her let the water out, then go flush both toilets."

Their next trip out back, made them a lot happier. The water came out a lot faster.

The two of them hooped and hollered, hugged and kissed mightily. Success!

"So what did you get that other hose for? Don't look like we're gonna need it." Jack said as they drove back to the house.

"That one's a five incher." Ennis said. "I wanna see if we can hook it up to the pump and use it to fill the bath tubs with. One a us will have to pump, while the other holds the hose in the tub."

"Oh that would be great. No more haulin buckets and buckets a water around."

The hose was a lot longer than they needed so when they figured out how much they needed, the cut it to size. It was awkward holding it in the tub, but well worth the effort.

x x x x

Next to the kitchen sink, they installed the ten-gallon water cooler with a spigot, that they'd gotten at the construction site, so water could be drawn easily. Smaller water coolers that they'd picked up at camp sites, went into each bathroom. A five-gallon bucket of water was kept beside each toilet. Each time they flushed, they'd refill the tank, and then the bucket for next time.

"Can we move in now?" Mrs. Twist asked anxiously.

"Sure. Why not." Jack grinned after getting a nod from Ennis.

"Before we do, I wanna make another trip out to that movin van where we got our furniture. I wanna get that couch, and my bedroom set had that darlin little vanity that matched; and now I have room for it. And the two a you should take those twin beds back, and get that king-sized bed. You'll be much more comfortable."

Jack and Ennis looked at each other with raised eye-brows.

"Oh, don't go givin me that look, you two." She said. "The two a you didn't spend half your lives wantin to be together, only to end up sleepin in twin beds clear across the room from one another. Get the big bed. Who's gonna know? We don't have to worry about none a that ugly stuff now."

They headed over to the moving van with the old truck and trailer. It was the only trailer that had been emptied. The larger one was was still loaded as they had no place to put it all until their stuff was moved over into their new trailer home.

Not another word was said about it. They simply loaded up the big bedroom set, the items Mrs. Twist wanted, plus the couch, a few end tables, and headed back.

"I don't know about this, Jack." Ennis worried as they set the big bed up in their room.

"Momma's right, Cowboy." Jack grinned at him as they struggled to put the mattress pad and fitted sheet on. "We got no worries about people findin out about us any more."

"I s'pose." Ennis said, still worried.

"Just wait until tonight. We'll have us a nice bath after dinner, and get to sleep comfortable, and together for the first time since this mess happened." Jack assured him. "There won't be any wonderin about it then."

x x x x

"This is all such perfect timin." Mrs. Twist said at dinner. "Tomorrow is Thanksgivin. We got no turkey, but I thought I'd do up one a those canned hams we have. And we can have pumpkin pies and all the trimmins."

"That sounds great, Momma."

"We should a got out and tried for a turkey." Ennis commented.

"We had too much other stuff to do." Jack said.

"We certainly did, and I'm glad we didn't put it off." Mrs. Twist said. "Maybe we could go out turkey huntin just before Christmas."

"We can do that." Ennis agreed. "Tomorrow we'll get busy and build some more shelves so we can bring the rest a those groceries in."

"No!" Mrs. Twist said. "You boys need to rest. You've been workin so hard, and tomorrow is a holiday."

"Dinner was delicious, Momma. I think we best get busy pumpin water. I know we're all gonna wanna take a nice bath tonight."

"Now, I can do some a that pumpin too. You boys don't need to be doin it all."

"There's no need for that. We can do it." Ennis insisted.

"If you'll just get those cannin pots out, we can take care a fillin them and the tubs, Momma, so you can get some hot water goin."

"Oh all right. I can do that while I'm doin dishes."

"Hold on a minute and we'll pump you some water in the sink." Ennis offered and headed for the hose which easily attached to the pump spout.

Jack carried the open end of the hose into the kitchen and hollered, "Go!" So Ennis could begin pumpin. Once Mrs. Twist had the pots full, and enough in the sink for her dish washing, he called out "Stop!" He then took the hose into Mrs. Twist's bathroom. He hollered, "Go!" out to her, and she called the same out to Ennis, and he began pumping again. Once they were finished, they traded places and filled their own tub. They carried the hot water in for Mrs. Twist's tub first, and put more on to heat for their own.

Mrs. Twist bid them good-night, and hurried in for her bath.

"You okay?" Jack asked as they waited for their water to heat.

"Yeah." Ennis answered, keeping an eye on the door to Mrs. Twist room. "She probably can't hear nothin from that far away."

"She'll be finished with her bath, tucked in her bed, and fast asleep in no time." Jack assured him. "We got nothin to worry about, Cowboy."

"That water ready yet, Bud?"

"Yeah; c'mon. Let's go."

x x x x

Thanksgiving Day 1984

"Come in here and take a look, Momma."

"What is it, Jackie?" She asked as she was placing bowls of steaming hot food on the table.

"Come see."

She walked into the living room where the fireplace was ablaze with the first fire they had in it.

"Oh my!" She walked over and held her hands out. "This is just wonderful!"

"If it gets too cold in your room, you can sleep out here on the couch, Momma. Me and Ennis can use our sleepin bags and stretch out here on the floor."

"We can keep the fire goin all night if we need to." Ennis added.

"Well come sit down. Dinner's ready." She smiled fondly at them. "You know, I was thinkin." She said as they seated themselves. "It wasn't but two months ago, we were sleepin in that bus, and wonderin if we were gonna be able to find enough food and water. Now look at this fine home we have! We come a long way since then." She reached out a hand to each of them. "We have so much to be thankful for. Most of all, I'm thankful that you came up to Lightnin Flat with your horse trailer to help us take those two sick horses to the Vet's, Ennis. With Mr. Twist in Cheyenne with our stock trailer, I wouldn't a known what to do. It's a good thing Jackie spotted that they were actin up and needed attention."

"It wasn't no trouble at all." Ennis said. "I never had much to do on weekends, so it give me somethin to do."

"And how lucky am I, that all a this happened when you were home, Jackie. I feel like I'm about the luckiest person ever!"

"We're the lucky ones, Momma." He smiled at her, then over to Ennis.

"We are for a fact." Ennis agreed. "The three a us made it through that storm when it looks like no one else did."

The aroma of the dinner spread out before them, overtook conversation and they dug in. There was ham, candied sweet potatoes, green beans, creamed corn and fresh made biscuits; with pumpkin pie for dessert.

They groaned and fake-complained about eating too much afterward. Ennis suggested they get to work building more shelves, but Mrs. Twist and Jack both said no. It was a holiday and they should rest.

"Let's take the rest of the afternoon off. Let's go fishin!" Jack suggested.

"Oh, let's do!" Mrs. Twist agreed. "I'll grab some snacks and bottled water."

"C'mon." Jack reached a hand out to help Ennis up off the couch. "I'll drive. You can sit back and relax. You won't have to do nothin."

"I like the sound a that, Bud. Thanks. We goin in the motor home?"

"Might as well. Let's go move our gear over from the old camper." Jack grinned, happy as a kid getting away with playing hooky.

x x x x

"I love it up here." Mrs. Twist sighed as they sat in their lawn chairs close by the river's edge so they could watch their poles. "It's so peaceful and beautiful."

"You sure you're warm enough, Momma?"

"Oh, yes, Jackie. This coat is really nice and warm. Are you cold? How would you boys like a nice hot cup of coffee? Or I could make some hot chocolate, if you'd rather have that."

"No, now you've done enough work for today." Jack insisted. "You put together that wonderful meal for us. If we need anythin to drink; we can get it ourselves."

"Oh, that wasn't work, Jackie. You know how I love to cook, and that wasn't nothin but mostly openin cans."

"Maybe we'll be able to get us a turkey for Christmas." Ennis said, but had to get up then to tend to his fishing pole.

They fished for a couple of hours before Mrs. Twist stopped them saying that she didn't think they would have enough canning jars if they didn't stop. In no time, Ennis had caught Jack's mood; and, as cold as it was up by the river, the three of them had a great time.

x x x x

The weather seemed to worsen by the day as they struggled to collect as much firewood, and groceries as they could before the weather made it too dangerous to go out any more.

CHAPTER 8

Winter came on hard and fast after Thanksgiving. They kept the fire going in their fireplace as well as their stove most of the day. They spent their time trying out new recipes from the cook books they had found, they read a lot, baked a lot, and came up with a few exercises that they did every day. They made plans for the coming spring, of the places they'd go, the items they'd look for, and the things they wanted to do on their ranch.

The small area where a washer and dryer was meant to go, they fixed up some clothes-line at different levels. At first, Mrs. Twist insisted that she do the laundry, but relented when the guys needed something to do, and she decided they needed to learn how to do it anyway, as she didn't figure she'd be around forever. The same with the cooking. They had half a dozen cookbooks, and they ended up each taking a turn selecting a recipe and making it. Of course, the others helped a bit now and then.

x x x x

Spring finally came and they went at it with a vengeance. There was still a little snow on the ground, but that didn't stop them. As soon as it was warm enough to be outside for any length of time, they were at it.

"I know we saw a brand new John Deere somewhere, but I can't remember where." Jack was complaining.

"What good's a new tractor gonna do us if we don't have no seed?" Ennis was reasoning.

"I know there's a seed place here in town somewhere, I just can't remember where." Mrs. Twist said one day as they were discussing things over lunch.

"What we need is a phone book." Jack said. "That would give us some idea where we might find things we need."

"That'd be nice to have." Ennis agreed. "And most of 'em have little maps a the city in the back. Even though the street signs are mostly down, they are still there and we'd be able to find things easier."

"The bus station!" Mrs. Twist said.

"What about the bus station, Momma?"

"I remember seein a bunch a phone booths close to where that bus we stayed in was. I remember sittin there lookin out the window at 'em layin on the ground, and thinkin if only one a those phones worked, we could call for help."

"Did you see a phone book?" Ennis asked.

"I don't remember that. But there were at least half a dozen booths. There might a been a phone book in one of 'em."

"That's a good place to start lookin." Jack said. "And as long as we don't have anythin vital we need to do right away, we ought to start proppin up those street signs, so we can find our way around easier."

"That's a good idea." Ennis agreed as they helped clear the table. "At least for the down town area."

The three of them did the dishes together. Mrs. Twist washed, Jack dried, and Ennis put them away. It was a routine they worked out and they decided to keep to it, as it distributed the work around more evenly.

"What are you writing, Momma?" Jack asked as they drove into town.

"Just makin a list a the people I knew, and the things that they had that might be a help to us." She said as they pulled into the bus depot. "Julia Eddings I know, had a milk cow, Stella Benson had chickens, Violet Wilkens used to sell flower and vegetable seeds door to door. If we could find her place, we might find some seed there. I know that Alice Kurth has a apple press. They got their apples from the Fisher family. They got tons a apple trees on their place. And... oh let's see... there must be more."

"That's great, Momma. You keep thinkin a things. I don't want you out here by these phone booths. There's too much broken glass around." Jack said as he and Ennis got out and started digging through the twisted metal and broken bits of glass that used to be six phone booths.

"Here we go!" Ennis pulled one from the mess and gave it a good shaking. "We got us a phone book!"

"Great!" Jack said. "Does it have a map in the back?"

"Nope. But it's got one in the front!" Ennis grinned as they made their way back to the truck.

"If we can't find that new tractor you were lookin for, I know the McCoy's have one they bought a year or two ago." Mrs. Twist said as the men climbed back into the truck on either side of her. "And Lavern and Sharon Gillespie always have a ton a firewood by fall. Lavern's two sons come in from college and spend the summer choppin enough wood for them to make it through winter. They're over on the east side a town. I just don't know why I didn't think a all a these last fall when we really needed it."

"That's all right, Momma." Jack said "We found a phone book, and it's got a map!"

"Oh, that's wonderful!" She glowed. "I'm pretty sure I can find most a these places on a map. At least get us into the neighborhood."

"Feed store – Baker Street." Ennis said, then flipped the pages over to the map and handed it over to Jack. "You got better eyes than me. See if you can find Baker Street."

Jack scanned the map, turning it sideways to read the street names. "There it is. Looks like it's pretty close to Home Depot."

"Let's go!" Ennis said.

Jack keyed the ignition and they were off.

"But there must be some way I can help." Mrs. Twist protested after they shooed her away from the pile that used to be the feed store.

"You can help by thinkin up more places that have stuff we need." Ennis suggested.

"Or coffee, Momma." Jack added, giving her a hug and a kiss on the temple. "We can do the diggin; why don't you get us a pot a coffee goin."

"Oh all right. A cup of coffee would go good about now." She agreed reluctantly, and headed for the motor home.

"Look!" Ennis pointed off across a field and gave Jack a shoulder bump. There in the sunlight sat what appeared to be a brand new John Deere tractor.

"There it is!" Jack shielded his eyes from the morning sun as he looked. "That must a been where we saw it; comin back from one a our Home Depot trips."

"Let's go get it!" Ennis said and the two of them loped out into the field.

Jack jumped up on the seat and turned the key. It started right up. "Hot dog!" He hollered above the noise.

It took a little work, moving the tractor back and forth to loosen it from the mud, but in very little time, Jack had it heading back toward the seed store.

Mrs. Twist stood waiting for them when they got back; "Why that tractor looks brand new!"

"It sure does!" Ennis agreed.

"Now if we can just find some seeds!" Jack said as he climbed down.

"Oh we will!" Mrs. Twist said. "I just know we will."

x x x x

They stopped for a rest after a couple of hours.

"So you didn't find nothin?" Mrs. Twist asked them.

"We found grass seed, and seed for stock, but nothin for a vegetable garden." Jack shook his head.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to keep lookin for more canned stuff then." Mrs. Twist said.

"Home Depot sells vegetable seeds, so does Walmart." Ennis suggested.

"That's right!" Jack said. "I remember you got some that time I took you to Walmart; remember Momma?"

"Yes! I do remember that." She brightened. "I don't know how I forgot that."

They loaded up and headed on over to Home Depot. They walked around the debris for some time before Ennis finally admitted. "I wouldn't even know where to begin. These walls are too big and too heavy. I doubt we'll ever be able to get inside."

"You wanna try Walmart then?" Jack asked.

Before he had a chance to answer, then heard some thunder. "I think we need to forget about a vegetable garden for now, and get started cinder-blocking the trailer house."

They weren't able to do anything productive the rest of the day as it rained until evening. The next morning they headed for the construction site.

"This sure is gonna be a lot easier than pushin these blocks all that way on those carts." Jack said as they loaded up their trailers.

"Yeah," Ennis agreed. "And the work should go a lot faster too now that we're not so tired and desperate to get things done in such a hurry."

"Most every little store had a rack a seeds for sale." Mrs. Twist was saying that evening at dinner. "We still might find some."

"Most every store had some in the spring, Momma. Remember, it was September when the storm hit."

"Oh that's right." She said.

"I think our best bet will still be Walmart or Home Depot." Ennis said.

"How, when we can't move any a those cement walls?" Jack asked.

"We can't move those walls, for sure. They're too big and too heavy." Ennis agreed. "But maybe we could find a way to climb down inside and have a look around."

"Oh no!" Mrs. Twist was aghast. "That'd be way too dangerous. What if you got stuck down there?"

"I been thinkin on that." Ennis said. "We'd have to agree that only one a us would go down at a time. We'd tie a rope around us. That way if we got in any trouble, the other one could pull us out."

"That does sound really dangerous." Jack agreed with his momma.

"Well, we got some time to think about it." Ennis said. "We'll finish the cinder-block work first before we go lookin for seeds again."

x x x x

"What'cha got there?" Jack asked a week later after their cinder-block work was finished.

"Cheyenne newspaper." Ennis answered as he opened it out on the table. "I picked it up when we was down there, stuck it behind the seat in the truck, and forgot all about it. Thought it might be interestin to read."

"You find anythin interestin?" Mrs. Twist asked as she put away the last of the dinner dishes, and joined them at the table.

"As a matter of fact; I did." He folded the paper back to an article he'd been reading. "It's about a place called Orchard Valley, just south a Cheyenne. They got this place where they're experimentin with plantin stuff in green houses."

"Well that ain't nothin new." Jack said. "People been usin green houses for years."

"Well, they're plantin trees, and tropical plants, and different things. Stuff that don't normally grow this far north." Ennis explained.

"It'd have to be awful big to plant trees in it." Mrs. Twist said.

"What they do is dig a hole in the ground, down past the freeze line, and plant the trees. Then they keep 'em trimmed down so they don't grow too tall. That way they fit in the green house without no trouble, and it makes it easier to pick the fruit off 'em."

"No kiddin?" Jack said and took a look at the article.

"I was just thinkin it would be nice if we had a couple." Ennis removed his glasses and put them in his shirt pocket. "We could plant maybe orange trees, or banana trees. Stuff like that."

"And where would we get such trees?" Mrs. Twist asked.

"Down there in Cheyenne, I guess. And they might even have some vegetable seeds around." Ennis answered. "The article says they got all kinds a tropical fruit growin in their green houses, and they were getting ready to put more in."

"Don't those things need heaters to work?" Jack asked as he handed the newspaper back.

"Yeah, I was thinkin about that." Ennis drummed his fingers on the table. "We'd need to find us a propane generator and some propane."

"You think you could set somethin like that up?" Mrs. Twist asked.

"I imagine them green house kits come with instructions. Puttin 'em together would probably be the hardest part." Ennis said. "Hookin up a generator ain't all that big a deal. Course, we'd need to find the generator and propane first. Without them, there'd be no need for the green house."

"They'd probably have all that kinda stuff right there where they're settin it all up; wouldn't they?" Jack asked.

"I bet they would." Ennis shook his head.

"We could grow stuff all year 'round then?" Mrs. Twist asked.

"I don't see why not." Ennis answered. "I was thinkin, if we could get one set up, we could put trees down the middle, and some growin shelves or boxes along the sides where we could plant vegetables or maybe even some berry bushes. That's what the article says. I'll bet they'd have everythin we'd need right there in Orchard Valley."

"Oh my! Wouldn't that just be glorious!" Mrs. Twist sighed. "Fresh fruit and vegetables all year round."

"I think we should plan a trip to Cheyenne." Jack said.

"Yes, we should." Mrs. Twist agreed, and growing a bit more somber she added; "And we should take a look around the stock yards. That's where your dad was."

"You know we're not gonna find him." Jack gave her hand a little squeeze.

"Oh, I know that, son. I just feel like we should at least take a look around. We should a done it last time we were there, but I was so upset, all I could think about was gettin back home here."

"It wouldn't hurt none to take a look around." Jack said. "Cheyenne's a big place. We might ought a plan on spendin a couple a days lookin around."

"Good idea. We ought to be able to find lots a stuff in a town that size." Ennis agreed.

"I don't want no arguments from the two a you, but I plan on drivin our old camper and pullin that smaller trailer."

"Now there's no need for that, Momma. Ennis'll have the tow truck with one trailer, and I'll drive us in the motor home, and pull our other trailer."

"It's not open for discussion! As slow as we drive, it ain't nothin for me to be drivin that truck. Maybe we can find a third trailer to hitch behind the tow truck. With three trailers, we'll be able to bring back that much more; and you know, in a town the size a Cheyenne, we'll be able to fill all three trailers in no time." She got up and left the table. "We'd best take along enough clothes for three or four days." She called back over her shoulder to them as she headed for her room.

"I guess we're headin for Cheyenne in the mornin." Ennis grinned.

x x x x

True to her word, Mrs. Twist drove all the way with no trouble at all. They went first out to the stock yards. Just as they thought, the place was a mess. The buildings were all down, the parking lot a mass of jumbled cars, trucks, and trailers. They spent an hour looking around, but found no trace of Mr. Twist, or his vehicle.

"Let's head on over to Orchard Valley." Jack suggested as they sat in the parking lot having lunch. "If we can find a generator, it'll probably take up most of the room in one of our trailers. We should get that first before tryin to get any a those green houses loaded up."

"That's what I was thinkin." Ennis agreed. "I sure hope we can find a generator right there with the green houses. That'd save us a lot a time lookin for one."

x x x x

"Oh Jesus!" Ennis said as they checked the place out. "I never expected to find a complete set up like this."

"It's perfect!" Mrs. Twist said. "Everythin we need is right here!"

"Oh man..." Jack said. "How we gonna get all a this home?"

"Don't know." Ennis said as he checked the generator out that sat in the middle of the four green houses they were examining; and the connection to the huge propane tank on wheels that sat nearby. "But this is exactly what we need. And if we could get a second generator... we could get us some electricity to the house! I've seen several a those little electric heaters in the cellars we been goin through. We could collect a few a them. Then we'd be all set, for sure."

"Oh, that would be wonderful!" Mrs. Twist said.

"Let's see how big those green house kits are first." Ennis said as he led the way back over to what was once a scattering of buildings. After sizing things up, he said, "I can pull the propane tank with the tow truck; leave the trailer I've been pullin, and pick it up next trip. We can get the generator in your momma's trailer, but nothin much else."

"We ought to be able to get four a these kits in my trailer." Jack offered.

"Uh huh." Ennis agreed. "That'd be enough to get us started. We can always come back for more later on."

"How on earth are you going to load up those kits?" Mrs. Twist asked. "They're huge!"

"They must have a fork lift around here somewhere." Ennis said. "Let's look around. Otherwise, we're gonna have to open up those kits, and load 'em piece by piece."

In less than thirty minutes, they found a fork lift, and had four green house kits loaded in Jack's trailer. It took a little more work with the generator. Ennis wanted to make a sketch of all the hookups before taking it loose, and loading it up. The propane tank hitched up easily to the tow truck, and they were all set.

"I think we should take a look at those trees." Mrs. Twist said pointin over to a group of trees, un-planted, and still in their containers. "There's still a little room in my trailer and Jack's as well. We could get a few in."

"They put just two trees in each green house." Jack said. "So we'd have room for eight."

"Let's see what they got." Ennis said. "Don't know if any a them are still alive after sittin there all winter."

That bunch of trees were all dead, but they found several trees that were still alive, and hadn't been planted yet, in the remnants of the wrecked greenhouses. They loaded up eight of them, and decided to head for home. There was no use in staying overnight like they planned, as they had no room to carry anything else.

x x x x

Erecting the green houses was a real challenge, but one that they enjoyed. The hard part came when they had to dig all the holes. That meant a minimum of forty-two inches down that would put them below the frost line. It took them several days to get them the way they wanted them, but once their trees were all planted, they made plans for another trip to Cheyenne. They hoped to get four more greenhouses, two more generators, and more trees. They already had two orange trees, two lemon trees, two banana trees, and two peach trees. There were already several different kinds of apple and pear trees around town, so they didn't worry about planting any of those. They were eager to see what other trees they might find.

Ennis led the way, Mrs. Twist followed him, and Jack followed her, keeping a close eye on her. On the way, they were crossing an overpass in Douglas when Ennis suddenly stopped and got out. Mrs. Twist and Jack joined him.

"What is it?" Mrs. Twist asked as Ennis made it to the rail, and looked down to the highway below.

"What'd you see?" Jack asked when he reached them.

"Look!" Ennis pointed below.

Most of the vehicles had crashed into one another, but one huge truck pulling a trailer stood up-right, just cross-wise up against a pile up of other cars and trucks. In great big letters on the side you could plainly read he word, E.

"That thing's huge! Could you drive somethin like that?" Jack asked. "I doubt I could."

"Nah, they got all them different gears you got a worry about." Ennis said. "But I could maybe pull it with the tow truck."

"Let's check it out." Jack suggested.

The three of them returned to their vehicles, worked their way down to the truck, and checked it out. First thing they found was the trucks manifest. It showed the tanks to be eighty-five percent full!

"Hot damn!" Ennis said as he read it. "This would last us for years!"

"So how do we do it?" Jack asked. "We just hook up to the front and haul the entire thing?"

"Or maybe we could unhook it from the cab, and just haul the propane trailers home?" Mrs. Twist suggested.

"Don't know how these things are connected." Ennis said. "Let's take a look."

It was easier to disconnect the cab then they thought it would be. They backed the tow truck up to the cab and pulled it out of the way. Next came the propane trailers, and he connected them to the tow truck. It took some time, but they finally managed it. Once they were sure all was secure, they headed on back home where they left the propane trailers, had lunch, then headed back toward Cheyenne again.

The rest of their trip was un-eventful. They were able to get four more greenhouse kits, two generators, eight more trees, plus some of the many growing boxes and shelving units that had been in use. They also found a large variety of vegetable and fruit seed packets. Now they were all set.

x x x x

They spent the rest of the spring and summer of '85, working on their vegetable garden, their green houses, and looking for small electric heaters for the house. It was labor intensive, and they spent each day working from sun-up till sun-down, but it was a labor of love. They enjoyed each and every minute of it.

When they grew tired of the work, they'd take a day off, and head on out to some little town and scavenge. They had become quite proficient at it now, and in a day, they'd come home with their trailers full. It didn't take long before their little shelter was completely full, so they went out and found some large trucks, towed them back to the ranch, and used them for food storage also.

By fall of '85, they had everything the way they wanted.

CHAPTER 9

Fall and winter of '85/'86 was spent organizing everything and making plans for the next spring.

"So we're going back to Cheyenne then?" Ennis asked in the spring of '86.

"Might as well." Jack answered as they finished up washing the dishes. "It's a big town and we barely touched it last fall."

"We really should get as much as we can, while we still can." Mrs. Twist added. "It's been more than a year now, and those cans are gonna start rustin out. It'd be a shame to let it all go to waste."

"Makes sense." Ennis agreed. "I know we can grow lots a vegetables, and hunt and fish for meat; but there's no way we can come up with stuff like coffee, salt, sugar, flour; stuff like that."

"Yeah, and toilet paper, tooth paste, and soap." Jack said. "I know we already got a ton a supplies, but there's just no reason to let all a that stuff just sit out there and rot."

"And it is best to hit the places furthest away when you got plenty a time, and nice weather." Ennis agreed.

x x x x

As they made the last curve that took them directly into Cheyenne, Ennis pulled over. The others did the same, and came up front to see what was happening.

"Oh my God! Look! Look, Momma! Cars, people!" Jack was the first to find his voice.

It had been going on two years since the storm, and they certainly hadn't expected to see cars driving again, and people walking around!

"I knew it! I knew it!" She began to weep. "I knew there had to be more than the three of us left. Look at 'em. They look like they don't have a care in the world! Surely they must know what happened."

"I wonder why nobody ever came lookin for survivors?" Jack asked.

"I don't know." Ennis said. "We best contact the authorities; see if there's somethin we should do."

Slowly they drove the rest of the way into Cheyenne, gazing at all the new construction going on.

"We need to contact the insurance company." Jack said after they pulled into a busy restaurant parking lot.

"Oh yes! The ranch is insured. And there was a policy on your father as well."

"I hope we can find a construction company who'll come up to Lightnin Flat." Jack was so excited, his head swiveling around to see everything and everybody.

"I wonder who we should report to?" Ennis asked as he, too, gazed around taking everything in.

"I don't know. There's a couple a cops goin into the restaurant. Let's ask them." Jack suggested.

"Excuse me?" Ennis said as they approached the officers.

The cops didn't stop, or even turn around.

"Sir?" Ennis said a little louder. Still no response.

"Officers, we need a little help here." Jack said and stepped up beside them. No response as the officers continued to chat among themselves.

"Officers, please stop! We need some help!" Mrs. Twist called out to them, and got the same response. Nothing!

Ennis hurried and got to the door before the cops, and stood holding the door. "Sirs, we're survivors from the storm, and we need to know who to report to."

The officers walked on into the restaurant... _right through Ennis!_

"Uhhhh," Ennis shivered.

Jack and Mrs. Twist stood watching; their eyes big as saucers, and mouths hanging open.

"Wha... what happened?" Ennis stuttered.

"He... they..." Jack stood shaking and pointing toward the offending officers, but couldn't speak any further than that.

Mrs. Twist picked that moment to faint.

Jack came out of his stupor in time to catch her before she hit the ground.

"Let's get her to the camper." Ennis said as he became aware once again as well.

As they took her inside, she came to. "Oh my God in Heaven!" She wailed.

"You're all right, Momma. You're all right. We got you." Jack continued to soothe her as he placed her on the seat at the little table. He sat beside her, with his arms still around her, while Ennis took a seat opposite them.

"Did you see what I saw?" She turned to Jack, clutching the front of his shirt.

"Uh huh." Jack shook his head, still clearly shaken by what had happened.

"Wha... what happened back there?" Ennis asked looking from one of them to the other.

The three of them stared at each other in stunned silence for several moments.

"Those men..." Ennis began. "They didn't hear us, they didn't see us, and... and..."

" _They walked right through you!_ " Mrs. Twist finished the sentence for him, and began to weep.

"Shhh, Momma. It's all right. It's all right." Jack consoled her as best he could, but he was so shaken himself he could barely speak.

"I guess... uh..." Ennis, terribly shaken himself, couldn't get the words out.

" _I think we're dead!_ " Mrs. Twist wailed.

"But that's not possible!" Jack refused to believe any such thing. Dead? How could they possibly be dead? "Is it?"

"I... uh... I don't know." Ennis was as baffled as the others. "That might explain a lot a things."

"You're not serious!"Jack countered.

"Think about it, Jack. Nothin has made a bit a sense since that storm!"

"You mean because they never came lookin for us?" Mrs. Twist asked.

"That and other things. A storm so big that it could wipe out entire towns, yet the trees are all still standin. Entire towns wiped out, and we never once saw a body, or any signs that anyone died – no blood or nothin in any a those cars we went through." Ennis reasoned. "And the rest of it. We were hungry, and we found food. We were cold and we found shelter. Everythin we needed to keep on goin, we found."

"But... why aren't we in Heaven then?" Jack asked. "Or that other place I won't mention."

"Well for one thing, Jack; your Momma would never go there... that second place you didn't mention."

"Ohhhh." Mrs. Twist began to speak, her entire body shaking with every word. "I think it's true, boys. I think we must be in some kind a... in between place."

"But we weren't hurt when we crashed into that ditch!" Jack insisted.

"Maybe we were, Bud." Ennis said as he drummed his fingers on the table top, lost in deep thought.

"But... but... I didn't pass out or nothin." She stammered. "Did either a you?"

"I didn't." Jack said.

"Me neither." Ennis confirmed.

"Did you feel anythin when they walked through you?" Mrs. Twist asked.

"No; well, maybe just a little tingly is all."

"You think it's actually possible?" Jack asked. "How could we be dead and not know it?"

"I don't know any more about this than you do, Jack. I'm just guessin here." Ennis assured him.

"Let's find out!" Mrs. Twist brightened up a bit.

"How?" Jack asked.

"Let's go back out there. Try and talk to other people, see if they hear us." She suggested. "Maybe it's the other way around. Maybe it's those two cops who are dead, and we somehow managed to see 'em."

"All right, if that's what you want to do. Are you sure you're feeling okay? You just fainted you know." Jack worried.

"I'm fine. Just curious to know where I stand." She assured him, pushing him to get up.

"You okay with goin back out again?" He asked Ennis.

"Yeah, I guess. I don't want no body walkin through me again though. That's creepy!"

Out the door they went.

"Where should we go?" Jack asked.

"Somethin smells mighty good comin out a that restaurant. Mrs. Twist said. "Let's try that."

They walked in the front door and looked around. Before they could decide what to do next, two kids came barreling out of the restroom and ran right through Mrs. Twist.

"Oooooh! It _does_ tingle!" She grinned at them.

"I guess it's true!" Ennis said.

"Must be, or she would a been knocked over by those brats." Jack shook his head in wonder.

"So if no one can see us..." Jack's mind began to work. "Momma, are you hungry? Ready for lunch?"

"Why yes I am; but how can we order anythin if they can't see or hear us?"

"You leave that to me, Momma. Wait here. We'll be right back." Jack grinned and nodded for Ennis to follow him.

Jack pushed through the double doors into the kitchen, with Ennis following him into the room bustling with workers.

"Those burgers smell great!" Jack said as they watched several being prepared. "Let's get us some. Grab three a those to-go boxes."

Ennis picked up three of the little boxes, and handed them to Jack.

Jack picked a burger up, stuffed it in one of the boxes, and reached for another. No one said a thing; no one noticed them. On to the French fry table, and he loaded each box until he could barely get it closed.

"Let's get some drinks." He said.

Back out front they went, and over to the drink dispenser. He handed the boxes to Ennis, went behind the counter, got three large drink cups, came back out, and filled them.

The three of them made it out the door, and back to their camper laughing all the way.

"Oh that was fun!" Jack said as they munched on their burgers.

"I guess bein dead has it's advantages." Ennis had to allow.

"I stood in front of three people, and let them walk through me while I was waiting on you." Mrs. Twist gave a guilty little smile. "It was really fun!"

"Momma, you shouldn't!" Jack chastised her.

"Why not? It was really strange and quite wonderful." She said as she devoured her meal with a renewed appetite.

"What do we do now?" Jack asked as he finished his meal. "If no body can see us or hear us, if we're really dead, then we can't report anythin to anybody."

"No need to, Bud." Ennis answered. "Looks like they already know, and are in the process a rebuildin this town. Pretty soon they'll have it all back up."

"That's right."Mrs. Twist agreed. "And in no time, it will all be like it was before."

They sat silent, each of them deep in their own thoughts for a while. It was Mrs. Twist who finally spoke. "Are we still gonna go lookin for more supplies?" she asked. "We'll have to pay for them now. Did either a you bring any money? I brought some, but not much."

"Sure we are." Jack said. "Don't know if I brought enough though. Did you bring any, Cowboy?"

"Yeah, I got a bunch." Ennis pulled his wallet out, and produced a hand full of bills. "I never had much money at one time before, so I been pickin some up here and there."

"Well, I'm glad you did. We're gonna have to start payin for things now or people will get suspicious, and might even get in trouble if things went missin. I don't wanna get anyone in trouble." She said.

"Grabbin hamburgers is one thing, I don't know how we're gonna get all the other stuff we're lookin for." Jack said.

"We'll figure it out." Ennis said. "Come on. Let's go."

"As long as we stick to the area that nobody's workin on, I don't see that we'll have a problem." Mrs. Twist reasoned. "We'll need to watch to make sure no one is around, but we can still go through the downed buildings, houses, and cars."

"That's right." Ennis nodded.

They spent three days going through the area before their trailers were loaded and they headed back home.

x x x x

"Does the paper say anythin about the storm?" Jack asked after finished dinner.

"Nothin special. There's nothin much to it. Mostly just talk about rebuildin goin on all around." Ennis answered. "And some talk about a wreckin crew goin around tryin to get into the banks and recoverin the cash money."

"I wonder how much of it they're gonna recover; and how much the wreckin crew is gonna keep for themselves." Jack said.

"Oh they wouldn't do that!" Mrs. Twist said.

"Oh yes they would, Momma!" Jack assured her.

"Well, I guess we could check it out." Ennis suggested.

"What do you mean?" Jack asked.

"Well, we got nothin goin right now. It's still too cold to do any plantin. Why don't we see if we can't catch up with that wreckin crew and see if they're bein honest with the money or not."

"How do we go about findin 'em?" Jack asked.

"Paper said they had a crew comin in next week to start off there in Cheyenne. We could drive back down there, find out where the banks are, and watch what happens. If they find the money, and give it all back, then there'll be no problem."

"And if they don't? If they decide to keep it for themselves?" Jack asked.

"Then we find out where they're keepin it, and take it from 'em." Mrs. Twist suggested.

"That's what I was thinkin." Ennis grinned at her.

"What are we gonna do with it? It ain't like we can go into some store and spend it. And you saw what happened when we tried to talk to those cops." Jack said.

"I don't know." Ennis said. "But we sure don't wanna let someone just come in and steal it."

"And if _we_ steal it, how are we any different than them?" Jack asked.

"We'll be takin it from the thieves!" Mrs. Twist said. "That's different. And we ain't takin it to spend. We're takin it from the bad guys, so they can't spend it."

"We can figure out what to do with it later on." Ennis said.

x x x x

"There they are!" Jack announced the next day as they drove up to the area where the wrecking crew had congregated.

They were having some sort of meeting in the largest trailer. Jack, Ennis, and Mrs. Twist walked through the trailer door and joined them.

"So how much did we get?" One of the five men asked.

"Don't know yet." Another said as they dumped several bags of cash money onto the table and began counting it. "So how many banks are there here in Cheyenne?" Someone asked.

"This was the last of the four we're supposed to hit here in Cheyenne." One guy said, then laughed. "I mean 'recover the money from'."

"And you think they're gonna believe we didn't find nothin?" Someone asked.

"They'll believe whatever I tell 'em." The guy who was obviously the boss said. "And if I tell 'em we didn't find nothin; that's what they'll believe. They got no way a knowin nothin else."

"Oh my goodness!" Mrs. Twist scoffed. "They _are_ stealin the money!"

"They won't have it for long, Momma." Jack said.

"Now wait a minute." Ennis said as they left the trailer. "We gotta plan this out. If we just take the money, they're gonna know somethin is up. Let's wait and see what they do with it."

"I wonder if they got some kind a list of the places they're supposed to hit?" Jack asked as they returned to their camper parked nearby. "If we could find out where they're goin next, we can get there ahead a them, and clean out the banks before they get there."

"Hey, that's a good idea." Ennis said. "I bet they do have some schedule. Let's go back and see if we can find it."

"Now wait a minute, boys. Let's think this thing through." Mrs. Twist stopped them. "How in the world are we gonna get into a bank vault? Either a you know how to do such a thing?"

"That's right." Jack admitted. "I hadn't thought about that."

Ennis thought about it a minute then said, "The storm happened on a Saturday mornin. And most banks are open then. Maybe we'll get lucky and the vaults won't be locked."

"Right!" Jack agreed. "And unless they got a safe-cracker in that gang, they won't have any easier a time gettin into the vaults than we will."

"They must have some kind a list a the banks they're supposed to hit; maybe they got a list a combinations to the vaults too?" Ennis suggested.

"That's right! No wonder they were so smug about it all. I'll bet they do have some kind a list." Jack said. "I say we go get it."

"You boys go ahead. I wanna get dinner started." Mrs. Twist said. "You be careful now."

"You don't wanna hit the restaurant, Momma?" Jack asked. "We can go soon as we get back."

"No, not tonight. I've been thinkin about some a that chicken noodle stew all day. I think we'll have that."

"All right, sounds good. We'll be back shortly."

It didn't take them long to find what they were looking for. They took the schedule to their camper, copied it, and returned it. After dinner, they made their plans.

x x x x

The next morning as they high-tailed it to Laramie, the next town on the list.

"I'm glad we got a map tellin where each a the banks are located. That's gonna save us a lot a time." Ennis said as they sat in front of the first bank they were to hit in Laramie.

"What're we gonna do if we can't get the safe open?" Jack asked.

"We got the combinations; we should be able to get in." Ennis said. "If we can't, we might have to wait until the thieves get there, let them open the safe, and then take the money from them when they get finished hittin all the banks on their list."

"That would probably be a lot easier; but I'd really like to see the looks on their faces when they get to a bank and the money is already gone." Jack said.

"Yeah, me too." Ennis grinned.

"Oh this is so much fun!" Mrs. Twist said. "We're actually gonna be bank robbers!"

"Yeah, but the best kind a robbers, Momma. We're takin the money to keep it safe from thieves."

And that's exactly what they did. They followed the schedule and hit each and every town, before the thieves got there. Luckily, the combinations worked easily enough. When they got to the last bank the thieves were to hit, and waited for them there. It was an angry and disillusioned group of men who had little to show for their long, trek back and forth across the state, hitting bank after bank and coming up empty with most of them.

"Quit complainin." The boss man was tellin the others as they split their take on the last day. "We didn't get as much as we thought we would, but we still got a hell of a lot from that first few banks in Cheyenne!"

"True!" The others all agreed, and their celebration began with the opening of whiskey bottles.

Ennis, Jack, and Mrs. Twist waited until everyone was asleep, then headed for the trailers.

Each of the five men had a large suitcase stuffed full of the money they had stolen. In the morning, all those suit cases were gone! A furious fight broke out. In the end, they had to report back that none of the bank money was recovered.

x x x x

Ennis, Jack, and Mrs. Twist laughed all the way back home to Gillette.

"I wonder how much money we got?" Jack said.

"Don't matter." Ennis said. "It ain't ours."

"And it ain't in the hands a those thieves neither!" Mrs. Twist added. "Once we figure what to do with it, we'll give it all back."

"I'll bet it's millions and millions!" Jack grinned. "I never knew bank robbin could be so much fun."

"The one thing I been thinkin," Ennis said, "Is that now that the people are comin back and rebuildin things; there won't be any more scavengin for canned goods."

"Oh that's right." Mrs. Twist said. "I hadn't thought a that."

"Maybe we should make another tour a the state. Hit as many places as we can; collect all we can before civilization moves back in and takes over. Cause once they're here, they'll bulldoze everythin down, and all that canned food that's buried will be lost for good." Jack suggested.

"That might not be such a bad idea." Ennis said. "Especially the bigger towns, cause they're gonna fill up with people first."

"Sounds like a plan." Jack said. "Soon as we get home and find a place to stash all this money. Where you plannin on puttin it?" He asked.

"Maybe we should look into findin us another big truck." Ennis suggested. "We can keep the cash safe in there."

"Good deal." Jack agreed.

CHAPTER 10

"Boys, I got somethin I wanna talk about." Mrs. Twist announced as they were drinking their after-dinner cup of coffee.

"What is it, Momma?" Jack asked.

"It's this bein dead stuff. I heard all my life about this beautiful light you're s'posed to see, and you're s'posed to walk into it, and you end up in Heaven. You ever hear about that?" She asked.

"Yeah... what about it?" Jack asked.

"Well, I been seein it. And I was wonderin if either a you have seen it?" She looked from one to the other.

"Yeah, Momma. We've seen it." Jack answered, not liking where this conversation was headed.

"You need to stay away from that light." Ennis said. "You go through it, and you can't never come back."

"That's what I was thinkin." She said. "It'd be a one way trip."

"Momma... you're not thinkin... a goin into it?"

"No; not right now. But I _was_ thinkin that if the three a us walked into it together, we wouldn't get separated."

"Momma... Ennis and me, we already talked about it. We're not gonna go into the light. We got everythin we ever dreamed about right here. We got no reason to leave."

"I know what the two a you are worried about; but don't you think that things might be... different in Heaven?"

"That's just it, Momma. We got no way a knowin if things would be different or not; or if we'd even get to be together. And we're together now, and there's no one around to bother us."

"I can certainly understand that. I know the two a you have waited half your lives to be together." She smiled fondly at the two of them. "I was just thinkin... things will be different in Heaven. I just know they will. What do you think, Ennis? You're always so quiet, but this time you need to speak your mind."

"I don't know nothin about Heaven 'cept what my Momma used to say about it. It's supposed to be perfect. But does that mean it's perfect for everyone in every way, or just perfect for some people in some ways, and not others?" He didn't really expect an answer. "I only know one thing for sure, and that's I go where Jack goes. And if he don't wanna chance it; neither do I."

"We're not goin anywhere near that light, Momma. And I sure hope you don't either." Jack added.

"All right... at least for now." She sighed.

"Momma! Promise me you won't go near that light."

"I promise that I won't go near it... for now. I may decide in the future that it's what I wanna do. And when that time comes, I'll tell you first. I wouldn't do it without tellin you first."

"Momma, if there's somethin you wanna do... somewhere you wanna go... or somethin you need or just want..."

"No, Son. I'm fine. I've got everythin I want or need right here in front of me." She reached across the table and patted them both on the arm. "I'm glad we had this discussion. It's best we all know where we stand on this. There is just one regret that I have." She said.

"What's that?" Ennis asked as Jack was having difficulty controlling himself.

"That I never got to meet my grandson. I always hoped that one day you'd bring him up here so I could meet him."

"I always wanted to, but every time I mentioned it, Lureen threw a fit. She didn't want him to have anythin to do with ranchin. She was afraid it might get him to thinkin about ranchin instead of the business world."

"Why don't we do it?" Ennis asked.

"Huh?" Jack asked.

"Let's go to Texas. The least we can do is give your Momma a look at her only grandchild." Ennis grinned.

"Oh wow!" Jack was stunned, and a little bit ashamed for not thinking of it himself. "What a great idea! Would you like that, Momma?"

"Oh yes! Could we? Really?" She positively glowed at the idea.

"Sure we can. We can go anywhere you want. And if you wanna see Bobby, we can go to Texas. I just hope he's there, and not off gallivantin around with his friends."

x x x x

They made the two-day trip in the motor home, taking their time, not wanting to wear Mrs. Twist out. This wasn't a scavenging trip. It was simply a gift for her, and a chance for Jack to see his son once again.

"Oh Son; what a beautiful house!" Mrs. Twist exclaimed as they pulled up in front.

"It used to be before Lureen went nutty, brought her decorators in, and had it re-done over and over again. Her grandma was a real fine woman, and never went in for all the fancy froo froo stuff. Once Lureen got hold of it, it's nothin but that kind a stuff, floor to ceilin; every room in the house except for mine and Bobby's. She let us pick out our own furnishings and decorations." Jack explained as they walked right through the locked front door, into the marble foyer.

"Wow!" Ennis let out a whistle. "I knew you was rich, but I never knew you'd been livin in a place like this."

"I wasn't rich, Cowboy. Lureen was. Is. I was just livin with her. That don't make me rich." Jack led them into the formal living room. "Just look at this!" He gave a look of disgust as he waved his arm around.

"I'm guessin her favorite color is purple." Mrs. Twist said.

Ennis' only comment was "Ugh!"

"It's supposed to look French accordin to her decorator." Jack explained.

"I never would a thought of puttin purple and pink together like that." Mrs. Twist said as she looked around the overly-decorated room.

"And orange." Ennis added with disgust.

"No, now, Cowboy. That's not orange. It's mango." Jack corrected him. "Huge difference; according to Miss Phee Phee, or Phoo Phoo, or whatever her name is."

They heard a noise. Someone came in the front door. Out in the foyer again, they spotted the door to Jack's study was open.

"Come on. Let's see who's home." Jack grinned.

As they entered the paneled room, they spotted someone leaning down behind the big oak desk.

"It's Bobby!" Jack announced.

"What's he doin?" Ennis asked as they walked over to the desk.

Jack gave a little chuckle. "He's tryin to get into my safe! He'll never figure it out. I had that lock made special. Cost me a bundle, but they'll never get it open."

"Damn!" Bobby cursed his frustration, and tried another combination.

"Bobby? Bobby, I'm glad you're home." Lureen's voice floated in from the stairway.

"Are you still tryin to get into that safe? Even the lock-smith couldn't open it; what makes you think you can?" She said as she swept into the room filling it with the scent of her French perfume. "Why does it frustrate you so? What do you think he had in there anyway?"

"I don't know, Momma." Bobby said standing upright again. "It just puzzles me I guess."

"Well, it wouldn't be money. He never cared enough about it to think to save any. And it wouldn't be jewelry. I never could get him to wear any, and what he did have was left in his jewelry box up in his room."

"Then what was he keepin in there that was so important he had this special lock put on?" Bobby asked.

"I don't know, darlin. I surely don't know. We ought to have it torn out and thrown away so we can just forget about it."

Ennis, Jack, and Mrs. Twist stood transfixed as they watched the exchange.

"Don't you dare!" Bobby confronted his mom. "You _promised!_ You promised you'd leave his things alone!"

"All right; all right. I won't touch it. I was just thinkin a you. You'll never get over losin him if you keep comin in here all the time."

"Leave it, Mom. It's already been decided. I get to say what's done with his stuff!"

"I know, Bobby. I know." She glanced at her watch. "Oh dear. Randy's gonna be here any minute, and I still haven't gotten that phone call." She turned to leave the room. "I should be home early. I got that important meetin with the District Manager in the mornin."

Bobby bent back down to the safe and tried another combination.

"And don't forget you have that exam tomorrow. You should be in your room studyin instead a messin with that old safe."

"I will be. My study partner is comin over, and we're going to study for it. I just wanna try out a few of these other combinations."

"Well don't forget to order yourselves some dinner, and don't stay up too late. " She left, fiddling with her ear rings.

"He's so beautiful!" Mrs. Twist said as he came closer to get a better look. "He looks exactly like you did at his age. Except for those big brown eyes. He gets those from Lureen. She's such a beauty!"

"She is a beauty, Momma." Jack agreed, then turned to Ennis. "So what do you think a my boy?"

"He's good lookin all right. Reminds me a you twenty years ago. Except for them eyes." Ennis smiled his answer.

Bobby stood, walked over to the door, closed it, came back, sat down at the desk, and dialed the phone. "Hi, it's me. Yeah. She should be leavin shortly. Uh huh. I'll give you a call when she's gone. See you soon." He hung up the phone and left the room.

Jack and Ennis exchanged raised eyebrows.

"What?" Mrs. Twist asked noticing their looks.

"Don't know, Momma. But I'm thinkin that Bobby won't be doin much studyin tonight." Jack sat at his desk and twirled the knob on the safe behind him. In seconds the door swung open. He reached inside and pulled out several bundles of cash and handed them to his mom. To Ennis he said,"Get a fire goin in the fire place. I got some stuff I wanna burn." He pulled out a stack of magazines as his momma struggled to get the cash stashed in her purse.

"Oh, so that's what you had in there." Mrs. Twist gave a little huff. "You really think Lureen would care if you had a bunch a girlie magazines?"

Jack and Ennis grinned as the magazines burned. "These and my good left hand were how I spent most a my nights. If momma wasn't here, I'd show you some a my favorites. There's a couple a cowboys in a barn in one of 'em... well... you just wouldn't believe what they were doin!" Jack whispered giving Ennis a little shoulder bump as he poked the fire to make sure all the magazines burned. Once he was sure they were destroyed, he stood. "Come on. I'll show you my room."

Up the stairs they trooped.

"Goodness; even the hallway is purple!" Mrs. Twist said.

"See those double doors at the end a the hall. That's Lureen's room. This one is mine over here."

Entering Jack's room was like entering an entirely different house. There was nothing on the white walls at all except for a Wyoming calendar with a page turned to September 1984. The room was neat, but plain. A bed, night stand, and chest of drawers seemed dwarfed in the huge room. A comfortable over-stuffed arm chair sat next to a large window looking into the back yard.

"Anythin up here we need to add to the fire downstairs?" Ennis asked as they looked around.

"Not a thing." Jack said.

"Oh my goodness." Mrs. Twist said as she glanced through an open door. "The bathroom was in your room?"

"That was just my bathroom, Momma. Each bedroom, and there are six of them on this floor, has it's own bathroom.'

"Oh my goodness! Well which room is Bobby's? I wanna see his room." She grinned.

They were about to leave when Bobby came into the room and sat on the edge of Jack's bed; his hands folded in his lap as he stared down at the emerald green carpet.

The door bell rang.

"That's Randy." Lureen stopped in the open doorway. "Bobby, you be sure now and answer the phone when it rings. It's important! Take a message and be extra polite. Tell him I waited as long as I could for his call, but was called away on a family emergency."

"Momma!" Bobby gave her a look. "I thought you taught me never to lie."

"Well this is an important night, Bobby. I think Randy is going to propose. So in a way, it is a family emergency. There'll be an engagement announcement party at the club to organize, not to mention the wedding. I'll plan it for spring. I got a million things to do before then. I can't be sittin around for hours on end waitin for his call." Down the stairs she went.

Jack, Ennis, and Mrs. Twist followed.

"I got a bad feelin about this." Jack muttered as they followed Lureen down.

Lureen pulled the door open, and Randall Malone came in, pulled her into his arms, and gave her a long loving kiss.

"Oh my God!" Jack gazed at the scene with disgust.

"What is it?" His mom asked. "He's a fine lookin man."

"Be careful now. Don't muss my hair." Lureen was chastising him with a suggestive little grin. "There's time for that later on after dinner."

"Oh God!" Jack moaned, wiping a hand down over his face.

"What is it Bud." Ennis asked. "You know this guy?"

"He's a rancher neighbor? Married to Lureen's best friend." Jack said hopin Ennis would get what he was trying _not_ to say in front of his mom. "At least they _were_ married. Apparently they aren't any more or he wouldn't be openly dating Lureen."

"Shit!" Ennis mumbled under his breath, getting the silent message that Jack was trying to send him.

The phone rang.

"Oh that's my call! I gotta take this, Randy. It's important. It'll only take a few minutes." She pulled from the embrace, dropped her purse on the small table near the door, and fled.

"I take it you don't like this guy." Mrs. Twist said.

"You got that right, Momma. He's a bully, a gambler, and he preys on women. Women with money!"

"Oh dear." Mrs. Twist said as the three of them looked Randall over.

Randall looked to make sure no one was around, and reached for Lureen's purse. He opened it and pulled out the wad of bills that Lureen always carried with her. He took out three one-hundred dollar bills, stuffed them in his pants pocket, and as he shoved the wallet back inside, Jack slammed his hand down on the bag, trapping Randall's hand inside.

It startled Randall, and he jerked his hand trying to free it.

Ennis reached over and pressed his hand down on the purse as well.

Randall tried using his other hand, but the two of them held on. He could not free himself! He danced about the foyer trying desperately to dislodge the purse, but Jack and Ennis followed him step for step, holding it tightly closed on the offending hand.

"What's goin on? What's happenin?" Randall gasped as he looked around the foyer. "Is this some kind a trick? Is this bein filmed?"

Lureen sailed back into the foyer, and Randall stuck his hand, purse still attached, behind his back.

"It was a wrong number." She announced, and before she could say more, the phone rang again. "That must be him this time." She ran off to answer it.

Randall tried furiously, once again, to dislodge the purse from his hand.

Jack pulled it loose, and tossed it clear across the foyer up next to the steps.

Randall was in a panic now. If he went to retrieve it, she might see him. But if he didn't, how could he explain how it got way over there?

While he stood debating what to do, Ennis picked up a vase full of fresh flowers, and handed them to Jack.

Jack grinned, took the vase and dumped the entire contents, water and all, over Randall's head.

"Aaaaack!" Randall let out a squeal, turned around to face his attacker, only to find the area completely empty. He was alone! Or so he thought.

"Oh my god! Oh my god! Jack! Is that you?" He whirled around in all directions.

"Yes; it's me, you son of a bitch!" Jack answered, knowing Randall couldn't hear him, as he smashed the crystal vase to the floor.

Randall let out a yelp and reached for the door which Ennis was leaning against, holding it shut.

As Randall struggled with the unyielding knob, another crystal vase hit the floor, shattering into a million pieces.

"Stop! Stop!" Randall shrieked.

"Oh you boys are so bad!" Mrs Twist couldn't keep herself from laughing.

"We are! Here Momma. Your turn." Jack handed her another vase.

She stared at him for only a moment before smashing it to the floor. "Oh that was fun!"

"Here, here!" Randall pulled the money from his pocket and tossed it to the floor. "Take it. I was just gonna spend it on her anyway. I was a little short and I needed it, Jack."

Ennis picked a bright red flower up off the floor and placed it behind Randall's ear.

"I didn't think you'd mind, since you're... gone." Randall, dripping wet, bits of flowers still clinging to him, starring wide-eyed around the foyer, looking for any sign of Jack.

Two more vases crashed as Ennis and Jack knocked the last two from their pedestals flanking the foyer.

Lureen entered the foyer then, surveyed the damage, then Randall. "What on earth?"

"I'm sorry, Lureen. But I can't see you any more." Randall said grabbing for the door again.

This time it opened, but Jack was there and stuck his foot out as Randall dashed for freedom, stumbling and falling down the steps. He jumped up and took off running.

"Oh my God that was fun!" Mrs. Twist said. "We probably shouldn't have broken all those beautiful vases though. I'll bet they'll cost a lot to replace."

"It don't matter none, Momma. She can afford it. And believe me, we'll be savin her a lot a money in the long run just gettin rid a Randall Malone!

Lureen stood in shock several seconds before turning and heading back up the stairs. The three of them followed her up, stopping at Jack's room where Bobby was still sitting there on the bed.

"What was all that noise?" Bobby asked as she stood in the doorway.

"I'm not sure." She shook her head, clearly bewildered. "Randall went all kind a nutty and started smashin my vases. I guess he was mad at me for takin those phone calls. He just doesn't understand business very well."

"I told you that guy was an asshole, Mom! You wouldn't believe some of the stories I've heard about him."

"I don't know why he went off like that. Oh well. I'm not gonna let it ruin my evenin. I'm goin to the club and have dinner anyway. You'd better call your study mate and tell him to use the side door. There's a mess in the foyer." With that, she left, heading back down stairs.

Bobby stood at the doorway and listened until the door closed. Then he went to the window, looked out and watched until his mother's car left. He grinned, went to the phone on Jack's nightstand and dialed. "Maria? She's gone. Yeah, me too. Listen, use the side door. There's a big mess in the front hall. Okay. Hurry."

After hanging up the phone, he pulled up the corner of Jack's mattress, and pulled out a packet.

"What's he doin?" Mrs. Twist asked.

"Condoms!" Jack chuckled. "I didn't think he'd be doin much studyin tonight."

"At least he's bein safe." Ennis grinned.

"Yeah, that's what I was thinkin. Come on." He headed for the door. "I wanna show you one more thing before we leave." He led them down the hall to Lureen's room. "You gotta open both doors to come in. Why? I don't know. She always said, you got two doors to enter a room, you need to use 'em both."

Into the room the three of them went.

"Oh yuck!" Ennis was the first to speak.

"Is this what a French bedroom looks like?" Mrs. Twist asked as she gazed around at all the lace, ribbons, and ruffles.

"Looks more to me like somethin out of a whore house." Jack grinned.

"What is that smell?" Ennis asked, wrinkling his nose with disgust.

"Perfume." Mrs. Twist said.

"Not just perfume, Momma; but perfume imported from Paris, France. Eighteen hundred dollars for just one a them small bottles!"

"Well, the little bottles _are_ pretty." Mrs. Twist said. "But eighteen hundred dollars? Such a waste!"

"You think that's a waste, look at this." Jack opened another set of smaller double doors. They stepped into a huge room that was filled with clothes, racks and racks of clothes, drawers, display cases showing all kinds of jewelry. He slid aside a mirror covered panel and exposed shelves holding at least a hundred pairs of shoes.

"Why it's like a department store!" Mrs. Twist sighed with wonder.

"She really wear all a this stuff?" Ennis asked.

"She does. And all a this is this years stuff. Come the fall, she orders all the new fashions, and next January, she'll have all a this replaced with new stuff. Talk about waste!"

"Can we get out a here now. This smell is givin me a head ache." Ennis asked.

"Yeah. Me too. You seen enough, Momma?"

"I certainly have." She agreed.

"I just gotta do one more thing before we leave." Jack said as they descended the stairs. I wanna change the combination so that Bobby can get into my safe. It'll just take a minute."

"Is there anythin you wanna take, Bud?" Ennis asked.

"No, there's nothin I want. I just wanted momma to see Bobby. That's about it. I didn't know he'd be so intent in gettin into my safe." They entered the study. "Make sure those magazines all got burned." He said as he fiddled with the lock on his safe.

Ennis stirred the ashes and found nothing but tiny bits and pieces. "It's okay. The fire done its work."

"Good. Let's go."

CHAPTER 11

They were on the highway for quite a while before Mrs. Twist broke the silence. "That was so much fun!"

Jack gave out a guilty little giggle, while Ennis just huffed out a bit of a laugh.

"Well if we're gonna be ghosts, we might as well enjoy it." Mrs. Twist reasoned.

"You're absolutely right, Momma." Jack grinned as he drove. "What about you, Ennis?" He asked, looking across his mom to Ennis sitting quietly next to her. "You got anybody you might wanna haunt?"

"Nah. I got nobody I'd wanna haunt." Ennis smiled.

"What about Alma? Wouldn't it be fun to tease her a little bit?" Jack asked with a devilish grin.

Ennis matched his grin. "I sure wouldn't mind seein my girls again though."

"You wanna haunt them?" Jack asked quickly.

"Nah. I wouldn't wanna scare 'em; I just wanna see 'em. See how they're doin."

"Well maybe you can." Mrs. Twist said. "I saw on the TV news at that motel we stayed at last night, that most towns are havin a little celebration next month on the anniversary a the storm. Kind a encouragin everyone to come back, and help rebuild the area. Your girls might be there."

"Why would they be there? They don't know nothin about buildin, and neither a them live there any more."

"It's not just about rebuildin, Ennis. It's more a memorial to honor those who were lost, as well as tryin to get folks to move back." She explained.

"Oh." He shrugged. "I don't know. If it's that kind a thing... I guess they might be there. Did it say Riverton?"

"It said most towns. It would be worth the drive to see if they show up; don't you think?"

"I guess so. I sure would like to see 'em."

"Let's plan on goin then." Jack suggested, and the others agreed.

x x x x

"I didn't expect this many people to show up." Ennis said as they wandered through the crowd. "I thought the storm took most of 'em."

"Apparently more of 'em got out than we thought." Jack said.

"There they are!" Ennis said, following immediately by, "Oh crap! They're with Alma."

"We could do a little hauntin and drive her off." Jack suggested with a grin.

"Jackie!" Mrs. Twist chastised her son, but couldn't keep the grin off her face.

"I don't know. I wouldn't wanna scare the girls." Ennis hesitated.

"Just a little." Jack pleaded. "Just enough so that she's the only one who'd notice."

As they neared Alma and the girls, they overheard the conversation.

x x x x

"But Momma, you _can't_ be up on the stage. It's for business owners only." Junior argued.

"I'm a business owner!" Alma insisted.

"No, you're not, Momma. You're married to a business owner, but that don't make you the owner."

"It most certainly does! I'm married to Monroe, I own him. He owns the business, so that makes me an owner!"

"Oh Momma!" both girls chided her.

"I didn't pay seven-hundred dollars for this outfit to stand out here in this crowd!" She left the girls then, and Ennis stepped up next to them, and put an arm around their shoulders.

"She's still a pain in the ass I see." Junior said to her sister. "I was hopin time would soften her a bit."

"She's as bad as ever. Worse maybe." Jenny said. "I don't care though. I'm glad we came. I feel so close to daddy here."

"I know. I do too. I miss him so much!"

"Me too." Jenny hugged her sister.

"Oh look. Momma's talkin to that worker. I'll bet she's tryin to talk him in to lettin her up on that stage." Junior said.

Jenny craned her neck to see. "I hope he doesn't let her up there. No tellin what she'd say if she ever got in front of a microphone."

Jack, Ennis, and Mrs. Twist took a look too, and headed on up front to see what was going on.

x x x x

"I'm sorry, but your name isn't on the list. Nobody but business owners are allowed on the stage."

"But I _am_ a business owner." Alma insisted. "My husband and I own the one respectable grocery store in town!"

"If your name isn't on the list, I can't let you up on stage. There's only enough chairs for the business owners themselves. All relatives, friends and neighbors need to wait in the audience."

"But Irma Warren is up there! All she owns is that crummy little used furniture store, and it's nothin but junk!"

"Stand back now. The Mayor's getting ready to talk." The attendant brushed her aside, turned his back on her, and got into a better position so he could watch the Mayor.

"She doesn't give up easily, does she?" Mrs. Twist said.

"She don't give up ever!" Ennis said.

"Look. She gone around to the other side." Jack point to Alma across the other side of the make-do stage.

"Well she can't go up there. She'd look stupid. All the seats are filled." Ennis said.

After a short speech, the mayor turned things over to the local businessmen and women who took turns saying a few encouraging words each. When the man in the front row next to Monroe got up, Alma scooted up on stage, and took his seat. When he turned to go back to his seat, he saw it was occupied and simply left the platform.

"Of all the nerve!" Mrs. Twist hissed.

"Oh come on, Cowboy. We gotta do somethin." Jack said.

Ennis watched as Alma sat there posing for the cameras. First one side, then she'd turn in her chair, looking backwards over her shoulder toward the camera that was busy filming the event. Each position was accompanied by what Alma obviously considered to be her most alluring smile after patting her dress and hair into perfection.

"She really is disgusting." Mrs. Twist said. "Jackie's right. We need to do somethin."

Ennis nodded and led the way up on stage. Monroe was up speaking as Ennis stood behind Alma and pulled some hair out of place.

Alma turned around and glared at the man sitting behind her who was busy watching the speaker, and paid her no mind. She tucked the hair back into place.

Jack and Mrs. Twist were standing in front of her. "I think it's gettin a little windy, don't you Momma?"

"Oh definitely!" She agreed and they both got a hold of the hem of Alma's dress.

"On the count of three." Jack said. "One, two, three!" They pulled the dress up in the air as far as it would go.

Alma let out a squeal and grabbed for it, while Ennis did a double handed muss up of her hair.

The audience murmured with laughter as she struggled.

They let her get everything all straight, dress fixed properly, hair back in place, before they started again.

Ennis reached out and flicked the back of her ear. Alma swatted, thinking it was an insect. He did it again quickly, three times in a row.

"Stop it!" She turned, but the man behind her was now at the microphone, the seat behind her was empty. Monroe had retaken his seat and asked her what was wrong.

"Nothin. Lean back some. I can't see the camera. And if I can't see the camera, it can't see me."

"Yes dear." Monroe dutifully leaned back as far as he could.

Once again a large chunk of hair flopped down in front of her face as Ennis grinned behind her.

She brushed it back angrily.

He flicked her ear three more times.

"Stop it!" She demanded in a loud hiss.

"Stop what?" Monroe whispered.

"Someone's teasin me, flickin my ear. I hate that. Ennis used to do that all the time to aggravate me."

"Shhhh" Someone whispered.

"More wind, Momma." Jack suggested. "One, two, three!"

Whoosh, up went her dress again. This time, Monroe frantically tried to help her.

The three of them laughed their heads off.

She had barely gotten control of herself again, when Ennis pulled one of her dangling, clip-on ear rings off, and tossed it to the floor in front of her. She reached out with her leg, trying to reach it with her pointy toed shoe, but Mrs. Twist was there and pushed it just a little bit out of her reach. Alma scooched

down a little bit so she could reach farther, and Mrs. Twist moved the earring again.

Monroe, tired of watching her struggle, leaned over, picked it up, and handed it to her.

She replaced the earring, patted her hair, and noticing the cameras nearby, began her posing again.

Ennis flicked her ear three more times quickly.

"You stop it this minute, Ennis!" Alma hissed. "I know it's you!" She swung an arm to swat him away.

"Shhh, Alma honey. You're makin a scene. Everyone's lookin." Monroe pleaded.

"I don't care if I do make a scene. It's Ennis! I know it is. He's here devilin me!" She spit out angrily.

"Now dear; he's been gone two whole years. If he was gonna come back to haunt you, he'd a done it a long time ago. It's just the wind."

"Wind? It must be a hundred degrees up here!"

Ennis flicked her ear again.

Jack, spotting some bottled water, opened it, poured some into his hand, and began flicking some into Alma's face.

"Stop that, Ennis! You leave me alone!" She wiped at the water on her cheek.

"Her eyes." Mrs. Twist said to her son. "It'll make her makeup run."

"Oh good idea." Jack agreed, and immediately flicked some water into her eyes.

When she wiped it, her hand came away with black streaks on the back, but she didn't notice. The audience did though, and snickered at the black streaked face.

Alma ignored them and began her posing again for the camera. The audience roared with laughter. Everyone was laughing and the two laughing hardest were the two sisters off to the side, holding on to each other, and nearly collapsing from laughter as their mother made a fool of herself.

Ennis had to hold on to the back of her chair to keep from falling over. Laughing as much as the rest of them, including Jack and Mrs. Twist. The poor man at the microphone gave up trying to talk over the noise, and returned to his seat. The Mayor was saying a few words, but nobody was paying attention to him as once again Alma's hair was flying in all directions as she tried frantically to get her dress back down.

Mrs. Twist reached down and pulled one of Alma's high-heels off, setting it just out of Alma's reach as the audience roared.

"What is everyone laughin at?" Alma asked her bedraggled husband. "Hasn't anybody ever see wind blow up a dress before?"

"I don't know dear. I think perhaps we should leave now." He stood, reaching a hand down to her as her dress was once again where it belonged.

She stood and reached out a stocking covered foot to retrieve her shoe when hit "accidentally" fell off the front of the stage – with Jack's help. Some one from the audience tossed it back up, but the heel was missing, thanks to Jack. As they left the stage, Alma walking in one high shoe and one low, the audience again roared with laughter as the back of her dress flew up and stuck to the top of her head. As Monroe led her down the steps, the audience clapped loudly.

A grinning Ennis led the way back to his still laughing girls and gave them both a kiss before saying, "I think we done enough memorializin here. Let's head on over to the tables. That bar-be-cue sure smells good."

"That was so much fun!" Mrs. Twist said as they helped themselves to heaping plates of bar-be-cue, potato salad, and all the extras before heading to their camper. "It was almost as much fun as devilin poor Randall."

"She had it comin." Ennis said around a mouthful of food. "I wonder if any a those photos will make it into the papers."

"Oh, I hope so!" Jack said, grinning. "What about you, Momma. Isn't there someone that you'd like us to... a... pay a visit to?"

"Oh no." She shook her head. "I've always gotten along with everyone."

Jack reached across the table and squeezed her arm affectionately. "That's cause you're a sweetheart. What about you, Cowboy? You got anyone else you'd like to visit?"

"Only one I can think of."

"Who?" Jack asked. "Maybe we can find him?"

"I was thinkin a Joe Aguirre."

"Oh man! I'd love to pay that old bastard a visit! Let's see if we can find him." Jack enthused.

"He was out a Dubois, up in Park County." Ennis said wiping his mouth on a paper napkin. "I suppose we could take a drive up there, and see if we can find him. Unless anyone's in a hurry to get back home?"

"Not me." Mrs. Twist assured him. "I'd love to find someone else to devil. What did he do to you two to make you dislike him so?"

Jack and Ennis looked at each other, but neither of them spoke.

"Tell me so I can enjoy devilin him too!" Mrs. Twist asked.

"Well, uh..." Jack said.

"He cheated us outta a whole months pay. Made us bring the sheep down a month early just cause we had a little snow. Everyone knows that snow in August don't last long. We could a stuck it out."

"Yeah, and the year before that, when lightnin struck, and killed forty two sheep, he blamed me; like I should a controlled the weather!"

"Well, that's just not right." Mrs. Twist agreed. "He sounds like a nasty piece a work all right. You got any idea how we can find him? You got an address?"

"No, Momma. I guess we just need to hit the Farm and Ranch Employment place there in Signal, and see if they got an address on him."

The next morning, before the place even opened, the three of them were inside the trailer that was the Employment office. They rummaged around and found nothing.

"Darn, I was really hopin we'd find somethin with his address on it." Jack said with a sigh.

Mrs. Twist gave a little chuckle. "I'm so glad I spent all that time watching 'Murder She Wrote'. Look at this!" She proudly handed Jack a piece of paper that had been wadded up and tossed in the trash. He opened read it, gave a hoot of laughter and read it out loud.

"Aguirre, I don't care if you have to take them sheep up that mountain yourself! Get them up there on that allotment  TODAY, or you can start looking for work elsewhere!"

"You think he's up on the allotment?" Ennis asked, taking the note and reading it for himself.

"Oh man; I'd love to see that! It's September. If he's up there, he'll be at that closest campsite. What was it; about a mile in from the road?" Jack asked.

"More like two miles." Ennis nodded.

"Oh two miles is nothin. I can walk that easy." Mrs. Twist said.

"Maybe we should take you home first." Jack suggested.

"Oh no you don't! I don't wanna miss all the fun."

"It'd be a two mile walk up and two miles back. That's four miles a walkin, Momma."

"I doubt you're gonna walk up that far, and then turn around immediately and walk back down. As long as I can rest a little after we get up there, I'll be fine; and comin back would be down hill, much easier walkin." She insisted.

Ennis and Jack looked at each other and sighed. They were beaten and they knew it. Mrs. Twist would NOT be left behind. Period.

x x x x

Joe Aguirre was pissed off and half drunk as he had been all summer. At fifty-four years old, he belonged behind a desk, and not camping out up in the mountains with a bunch of stinking sheep! He upended his bottle of whiskey, and checked on the steak he was cooking. It wasn't quite ready yet. He'd give it a few more minutes.

"I can smell a campfire." Mrs. Twist said as they walked up the path.

"Campsite is just up ahead, Momma."

"You got any plans what we're gonna do?" Ennis asked.

"Not yet. It might not even be him. He could a found someone to do the work."

"I s'pose." Ennis agreed. "I'd sure like think a him up here all alone babysittin the sheep all summer."

"Yeah, me too. We'll think a somethin. Hey, there he is. That's him, isn't it?"

"Ohhh, he's drinkin." Mrs. Twist said as they came closer. "Be careful. There's no tellin what a drunk will do."

"We got nothin to worry about, Momma. Nothin but thinkin up how we can devil him."

"That steak sure smells good." Ennis commented as they entered the clearing.

"Yeah. How come he gets steak, and all we ever got was beans and spuds?"

"Don't know. Guess he's got some pull with management." Ennis leaned down and sniffed the steak sizzling on the grill.

"Let's fix this steak up for him." Mrs. Twist said and picked up the salt and pepper shakers sitting on a stone at the fire side. She shook and shook and shook until the steak was completely covered.

Augirre let out a big belch, but didn't notice.

"Oh he is disgusting!" Mrs. Twist said.

"That's Joe Aguirre all right." Jack said as he reached down and pulled Aguirre's shirt tail out.

Aguirre didn't notice that either. He sat the whiskey bottle down, and placed another piece of wood on the fire. His steak wasn't cooking fast enough. While he was messing with the fire, Jack picked up the whiskey bottle, turned his back to everyone and unzipped.

"Oh Jackie! That's nasty!"

Ennis snickered and tried to think of something to do. He picked up a small branch as he walked around the area watching Aguirre. When he got behind him, he dangled the branch so a leaf would touch the back of Aguirre's neck.

Aguirre jumped like he'd been bitten. He hopped up, swinging at the back of his neck as he danced around trying to wipe off whatever it was that he thought was crawling on him.

Mrs. Twist and Ennis burst out laughing.

Jack turned back around after finishing his business, and sat the bottle back down. "What happened? What did you do?" He asked as he watched Aguirre flailing around.

"I guess he's scared a bugs." Ennis answered innocently.

"No kiddin?" Jack grinned and bent down and picked up a double handful of leaves, and walked back over to where Aguirre had sat back down by the fire. He dumped the leaves down over Aguirre's head.

"What the hell!" Aguirre jumped up and looked around. "All right you stupid fucker. Who's out there?" He turned round and round scanning the woods. "I find you, you'll be eatin those fuckin leaves!"

Just as he was about to sit down, Ennis stuck out his thumb and goosed him. Aguirre let out a yelp, grabbed up a piece of wood and turned around ready to fight. "All right you son of a bitch! Show yourself!"

"Don't do anythin for a little bit." Mrs. Twist said. "I want him to take a bite out a that steak."

It only took a few minutes before Aguirre settled back down by the fire, his club nearby. He dug a plate out of his supplies, and forked the stake from the frying pan, onto it. He dumped the beans he'd been heating onto a separate plate and dug in. Beans first. "Ugh; too salty. I gotta remember to buy the better brand." He struggled, balancing the plate on his lap, while he cut a chunk of steak. He chewed for a minute before jumping up and spitting the meat out.

"So you salted my food." He said with disgust as he scanned the woods once again. "Big fuckin deal! Is that the best you can come up with? What are you; twelve years old?" He lifted the steak up with a fork and began scraping it. He scraped both sides. "Perfect!" He announced after taking a big bite. "Just the way I like it."

While he was chewing, Jack reached over and shoved the steak off the plate and into the fire.

"Shit!" Aguirre jumped up and reached for it with his fork. He didn't get it though, because Ennis had scooped up a shovel full of dirt and dumped it on the steak.

Aguirre stood statue still. His weathered face turned pale as he froze. "Wha... what's goin on here?" He gazed around carefully, but saw nothing. The clearing was silent except for the buzzing of insects.

Ennis stepped up beside him and pinched his ear.

"Oww!" Aguirre jumped, and began swatting; thinking an insect had gotten him.

Mrs. Twist wanted to join in the fun too, so she picked up a small branch and dangled the leaves against Aguirre's cheek.

He shrieked and shoved it away. Jack got another one, and got him on the back of his neck. Aguirre whirled around, and flailed at the empty air around him. "You stop that! You hear me! You got the wrong guy here." He backed away, but the branches kept following him. "Who ever you're mad at... who ever done you wrong... it wasn't me!"

"Oh, I wish he could hear me!" Jack said. "I got a few choice words I could use right now."

"Maybe you could still send him a message." Ennis said and used a branch to make a mark in the dirt.

Jack used his branch and spelled out, T.

Aguirre didn't see it at first so Jack went over to him, and gave him a hard shoulder bump. Aguirre didn't actually feel the bump, just a cold shiver ran through him. He let out a squeal and started to run, but the three of them had encircled him. Any direction he went, he was met with wave of icy cold.

Ennis, Jack, and his mom, laughed as they deviled him. The tingly sensation of someone walking though them becoming more familiar now as they danced around the clearing. They stopped only when Aguirre fell face down in the dirt – right by where Jack had printed his name.

"Jack! Jack Twist!" Aguirre got to his feet. "I... a... I remember you. You were a real fine worker. I heard the storm got you; that was a damn shame. You... you just ask my wife. She'll tell you. When I heard you was gone, I said what a shame it was, cause you were such a fine fellow."

Jack scratched out another word: L I A R

Aguirre backed away until he stumbled against the rock circle of the fire pit. He spied his whiskey bottle, picked it up and took a long drink. In seconds, out it came as he spit out as much as he could.

"Now that ain't right." He wiped his mouth. "That was a fine bottle a whiskey!" He sat down in the dirt, staring at the bottle like he'd just lost his best friend.

Ennis noticed the little cooler then and opened it. There was bacon and eggs, ready-made sandwiches, and some cold beer. He looked up at Jack, got his attention and tossed him a can.

Jack popped the top, and poured it over Aguirre's head. Once again, Aguirre shrieked and got up flailing around.

Ennis tossed Mrs. Twist a sandwich which she opened and began tossing the ingredients around.

"No; no! Stop!" Aguirre called out, but was silenced as an egg was stuffed in his mouth.

The naughty three laughed until their sides hurt as they clung together wondering what they could do next.

With a slice of bologna stuck to his cheek, the mayonnaisey side of a piece of bread was wiped down his nose. A can of beer, appeared in front of him, popped its opener, and splashed all over him.  
"Jack... no... stop..." Aguirre sputtered. "That's all the food I got! There won't be no more for three days!"

An egg splattered against the side of his head; another on top.

"I... I always liked you, Jack. You got no call to devil me." Aguirre babbled as he backed away. "You ain't mad cause I teased you a little bit; are you? I was only funnin, Jack. You can take a joke; can't you?"

Jack got a larger branch and whacked him across his bottom.

Ennis laughed so hard he dropped the cooler into the fire pit. The rest of the food began to burn.

"Nooooo!" Aguirre cried and rushed over to try and grab them out.

Mrs. Twist put a leafy branch in front of his face, and he swung at it like a mad-man fearing flesh-eating monsters.

"Now you gone too far, Jack!" Aguirre grabbed up his axe and began swinging it around. It did no good. The naughty three dodged it easily, laughing at his red-faced efforts. More eggs smashed against him, more beer emptied on him, and more branches continued to taunt him until he peed himself, and became a quivering mass cowering on the ground.

They had had enough. With one last effort, Jack untied Aguirre's horse, slapped him on the rear, and sent him on his way, before they headed back down the trail, still laughing like naughty school children.

CHAPTER 12

Several years later...

"Sit down, boys. We need to talk." Mrs. Twist addressed them.

"What is it Momma?" Jack asked as the three of them took seats at the kitchen table.

"You remember we talked before about seein the lights?"

"We talked about that, Momma. You need to stay away from that light."

"You shouldn't go near it." Ennis added.

"Boys, I'm ready."

"No, Momma! No!"

"Are you hurtin? Are you sick or somethin?" Ennis asked.

"No, I'm not hurtin, and there's nothin wrong with me. We been here several years now, and I'm ready to move on."

"I thought you loved this place? You always said you did. We can move if you want to. Where do you wanna go?" Jack asked.

"I wanna go into the light." She said simply.

"No!" Jack and Ennis both said at the same time.

"If you do that... remember we talked about it. You won't be able to come back. We'll never see each other again." Jack clung to her hand.

"It's a one way trip." Ennis added.

"Yes, I know all that, but I think it's time."

"But why? If you wanna move someplace else, we can do that. We'll find us another place." Jack pleaded.

"Boys... there's somethin I never told you about. I always planned to; but it just never seemed like the right time." She smiled lovingly at them both. "It was during the war. I don't know if I can ever explain to you how it was back then. It wasn't just the young men and women who were involved with the war, but the entire country. It wasn't nothin like this last war – Viet Nam – everyone hated bein a part a that war, but durin WW2, it was different. Everyone was involved in war work in one way or other, and there was nothin higher thought of than a service man. Every young girl or woman wanted one of her own. They were all thought of as heroes, and they were heroes!" She took a deep breath and went on.

"Addie Walston and I were best friends in high school, and we used to slip out and go to the dances over at the Town Hall. Back then, it was called the Red Cross Canteen. I would tell daddy that I was going to spend the night at Addie's house – and I did – but once her parents went to sleep, the two of us would get all gussied up, and head on over to the canteen. She had taken a shine to this young soldier, Harry TwoShoes from the Indian reservation, and they'd dance together all night. I'd dance with a lot of different guys. I was only seventeen at the time. One night Harry brought along his younger brother to the dance. His name was Johnny – Johnny TwoShoes. He was only eighteen, and the most beautiful boy I'd ever seen. He was tall, slender, a shock a thick coal black hair, and the most beautiful copper-colored skin. He had just finished basic trainin. He and Harry were code talkers. You know, they had to learn how to use the radio so they could send messages in their native language so it couldn't be read by the enemy."

Jack gave Ennis a look before saying, "Momma, if this is somethin... too personal... You don't have to tell me. It won't make any difference about anythin."

"No, Son; no. I want to tell you. You need to know. And now is the best time. You've got Ennis here with you. You need to know."

"Are you sure you want me here? I could take a walk or somethin." Ennis offered.

"No, I want you here, Ennis." She said before going on. "You're right where you've always belonged; at Jackie's side."

Jack took a deep breath, "Well go on then. Tell me whatever it is you think I need to hear."

"Daddy was pretty sick by then, so I could easily slip out a the house without him knowin, and drive into town. Addie and me went to the canteen nearly every night. Within a month's time, Johnny and I were madly in love. He asked me to marry him and I said yes, but I'd have to finish school first. I was a junior so I only had one more year left. He was fine with that. He was sure he'd be back by then. Everyone was convinced that the war would be over with shortly." She gave herself a little shake and blinked back a tear.

"All of the sudden our time together was up, and it was time for them to ship out. To make a long, sad story shorter, they were both killed when their transport ship was sunk. Addie went crazy and took off, left home. No one ever heard from her again. I never did find out what happened to her. And me... well... I thought I'd die from the pain of losing Johnny. I was about to tell daddy about him, but before I could say anythin, he sat me down and gave me the sad news that he had cancer, and he had only a short time left to live. I couldn't tell him then. Within two weeks daddy was gone." She paused to take a deep breath.

"It was the day after the funeral that John Twist showed up at the ranch. He'd heard about daddy and thought I might be hirin. He'd been in town for a time, workin odd jobs at some ranches around. Even worked some for us; so I knew him. He was a hard worker, and Lord knew I needed the help. I told him it wouldn't be right though, the two a us livin there alone on the ranch, so he'd have to stay in town and drive back and forth every day. He accepted the job anyway.

"I gave the matter a great deal of thought, and knew I'd never love another man besides Johnny; yet I wanted to be married and have children. Your father and I got to talkin about the situation one evenin, and I explained that I had been engaged to be married, but lost him to the war. I showed him the small turquoise promise ring that Johnny had given me. He said he'd like to be married and have kids too, so with very little more discussion on the subject, and I don't even remember who suggested it, but the very next mornin, we drove into town and got married. Two years exactly after graduation, you were born, and it was the first bit of happiness I had since losing Johnny." She took a sip of her coffee before going on.

"So my miserable marriage was all my fault, Jackie. We have only me to blame for the way things turned out. Your father knew that I never loved him, never even liked him all that much. And that I loved you like crazy. He was jealous; and he had every right to be. I never did right by him. He got me outta a real jam, I could a lost the ranch without his help. I should a tried harder to be a better wife to him. I just didn't have it in me though. My heart was lost out there somewhere at the bottom a the sea."

"Oh Momma, I'm so sorry." Jack moved over beside her and took her in his arms.

Ennis joined them, giving momma Twist a hug, and placing a kiss on her temple.

"I'm so sorry, Momma. It pains me to know that you lost the one person that you should have been with, the one you loved."

"It was a long time ago, Son. I always knew that someday I'd tell you, but you left home so young, and by the time you'd grown... well... you always seemed so sad; the time just never seemed right."

"Well, I'm glad you told me. It does explain a lot a things. I always thought it was somethin I did, or didn't do that set him against me."

"Oh no, honey. There was nothin that could a changed things. I expect things turned out the way they were supposed to."

"Can I ask a question?" Ennis pulled back from the group hug.

"Sure you can, Son. What is it?"

"What does all a this have to do with you wantin to go into the light?"

"I been seein that light nearly every evenin now. At first it was just once in a while in my sleep; but lately, I see it there in my room, and I haven't even been sleepin yet."

"Oh Momma." Jack gave her another hug. "That don't mean nothin. You think about it, and you see it. That's all."

"There's more." She confessed.

"I thought there might be." Ennis held her hand.

"That's why I told you the story about Johnny." She hoped they could make the connection. When they didn't; she went on. "I hear him. Sometimes when I'm layin there in the dark, I can hear him talkin to me. He's talkin to me about the light. He wants me to go into it."

"Oh Momma, that can't be." Jack was sure it was her imagination.

"It didn't happen just once. It's happened several times. He's waitin for me, Son. I know he is."

"You might go into the light and find out it wasn't your Johnny callin to you. Maybe it's Mr. Twist. Then you'd be stuck there, and won't be able to get back." Ennis warned.

"Oh no, Son. It was Johnny all right. I'd know his voice anywhere."

"But Momma... what'll we do without you? We'd be lost without you!" Jack pleaded.

"Oh no you wouldn't. The two of you have each other. You have this beautiful ranch, and all the privacy you could hope for. And who knows; you might even decide to come through the light too, and we'd all be together again."

"We won't never leave this place voluntarily." Jack said and Ennis nodded in agreement.

"This place is too perfect to ever leave." Ennis added.

She nodded. That was the answer she was expecting, but it saddened her anyway. She stood and paced for a bit.

"Well, I know I'll never forget this place, or our little visit down to Texas. Though I never got to actually meet Bobby, I did get to see what a beautiful boy he is. I'm sure he's a fine man like his daddy by now. I wonder if he married that Maria girl? We should have gone to see him again."

"I know, Momma. We should have. There just never seemed to be the time."

"It never would have been like the first time though. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my entire life before or since then! What a time we had!"

"Yes, that was fun." Jack had to admit. "But Momma... please don't go."

"Jackie... would you go if it was Ennis callin you? If he was on the other side?"

Jack was beside himself. He had no other arguments to offer. He did not want her to go. But he no longer had it in him to deny her the one thing she really wanted. He looked to Ennis for help, but found none. Ennis was close by, silent tears leaving tracks down his tanned cheeks.

"Momma... if this is what you really want... I won't stop you." He gave her a hug. "You're right. If it was Ennis, nothin would keep me from gettin to him."

"Just know, Jackie, that you have been my whole heart from the day you were born. And Ennis..." She reached a hand out to him, and he joined them in the hug. "Ennis, I loved you from before I ever met you; from the time Jackie first told me about you I could see how happy you made him. These years we've had together have been so wonderful. And it wouldn't have been if you hadn't been here with us."

Words were becoming harder and harder to get out. She was saying good-bye to them, and as much as they hated to see her go; they knew they had to.

They were all three bawling now. The only words any of them had left to say were, "I love you!" over and over again.

She finally pulled from their grip, turned away, and went into her room. They never saw her again.

CHAPTER 13

There was very little joy that summer. It was mostly hard work, with nothing much to look forward to. Until one evening at dinner...

"You know what?" Ennis asked.

"What?" Jack just stirred his coffee; still in a somber mood.

"I think we ought to go into town." Ennis said.

"Why?" Jack looked up at him. "We need somethin?"

"Yeah. I need a beer. Let's go get us a drink." Ennis grinned at him.

"You serious?"

"Sure. Why not? What's the use a bein a ghost if we don't get to have a little free beer now and then?"

"You're crazy!" Jack said, but a little smile crossed his face. The first since his mom had left.

"Maybe so, but you love me!" He reached over and nuzzled his cheek against Jack's.

"You really wanna go into town?" Jack asked, the idea beginning to appeal to him.

"Yeah, c'mon. Let's leave the dishes. We can do 'em in the mornin." He tugged at Jack's arm. "Let's hit that bar on Main Street. I could sure use a nice cold beer. How about you?"

"I think a cold beer would go mighty fine about now." Jack agreed as they headed out the door.

x x x x

The bar was cool and dark. It was Friday night so it was pretty much full.

Ennis walked behind the bar, picked two bottles out of the cooler, popped the tops, and handed Jack one. "See anyone you wanna haunt?" He asked.

"Nah." Jack took the bottle, and took a long drink. "Let's walk around a bit."

"Look at that fancy dude back there." Ennis pointed to a back booth. The one with the ruffles on his shirt. He looks like a politician or somethin."

Jack grinned. "Now how do you suppose he got a beautiful woman like that to go out with him?"

They were up close to the table now, and could hear the dude and the girl talking.

"I thought we were goin some place fancy." The girl was pouting. "Why'd we come here?"

"Look, I'm payin, so just quit complainin and smile, darlin. You ain't gettin paid to ask questions."

Ennis reached down and tipped the dude's cocktail over, and laughed as it spilled into his lap.

"Oh, Cowboy; that was mean!" Jack chuckled. "You know how much that outfit must a cost him?"

"I don't care. Here." Ennis handed Jack the man's wallet which he had managed to take out of his pocket while the man frantically tried to wipe the mess off his lap.

"What do I want with this?" Jack asked.

"Hide it somewhere, so when Mr. Moneybags goes to pay, he won't have any money." Ennis said.

Jack chuckled, and slid the wallet under the table.

They turned away from that couple and spotted two guys sitting together. "Look." Jack nodded toward their table. "Let's go see what they're arguin about."

x x x x

"I don't see what you're getting all upset about, Jeff. It's just a stupid dance. She's a friend of my mom's and I agreed to take her." The blond guy said.

"What about me? What am I supposed to do while you're dancin the night away with some silly girl?"

"Oh Jeffrey. Please! Don't make this any more difficult than it has to be. This is just something I need to do for my mom. She's done so much for us; how could I refuse her?"

"She's got no right to ask something like this of you." The second guy pouted. "She's probably trying to get you interested in girls again."

"No, she's not!" Blondie insisted.

"Let's leave them two alone." Ennis said. "They got enough on their plate to worry about."

The evening didn't work out the way Ennis had hoped. He was worried he'd never see his happy-go-lucky Jack Twist again.

x x x x

"You okay, Bud?" Ennis asked as they prepared for bed.

"Yeah, sure." Jack sighed, but his sadness engulfed him. He seemed to wear it like a shroud.

Ennis sat beside him on the bed, an arm draped around Jack's shoulders. "You gonna be this sad from now on? You think your momma would want you to be so sad all the time?"

"No; a course she wouldn't." Jack gave a little shake of his head. "I just keep thinkin that I should a done somethin; should a tried harder to make her stay."

"She stayed with us for near ten years, Bud. She was ready to move on."

"You really think she met up with that guy on the other side? This Johnny TwoShoes?" Jack turned a sad face up to Ennis.

"I don't know." Ennis shrugged. "She seemed to think she would; said she could hear him callin to her."

"I never believed in that kind a thing before. Did you?" Jack asked.

"Nah. Never did. But then I never been dead before either. I figured once I was dead, that would be it. But now we find out... you just kind a keep on goin."

"I know we talked about this before; but do you still see the light sometimes? Do you hear voices callin to you?" Jack asked.

"I do see it sometimes in my sleep, and I do hear voices. I can't make out what they're sayin though. I figured that was because I wasn't interested in leavin here. It don't matter none to me who's callin. I wanna stay right here with you."

"Since she left last fall, I hear her sometimes." Jack admitted like it was a guilty little secret that he was finally confident enough to share. "I can't hear what she's sayin though, but I do hear her voice."

"If she could get a message to you, it would probably be that you shouldn't be so sad. It was her choice to go. Her choice to make."

"I know." Jack agreed reluctantly. "I just hope..."

"What, Bud? What do you hope?"

"I hope she did find that guy. I hope they're together, and that they're happy. I'd hate to think that she left us, and ended up stuck with the old man again."

"Well now, if he was anythin like you said he was, I doubt he'd be sittin in Heaven waitin on her to show up. He'd probably be someplace else... a lot warmer." He gave Jack a little hug.

Jack gave a little grin. "You're probably right about that."

They climbed under the covers and stretched out. "You know what I think?" Ennis asked. "I think we ought to have us a little fun."

"Fun?" Jack asked.

"Yeah. Winter's over. It's spring. There's no great big rush to get our vegetable garden in. Why don't we find us somethin fun to do?"

"What do you mean fun?" Jack asked, and rolled over toward Ennis, propped his head up on one hand.

"You mean like play a game, or somethin?"

"We can do anythin at all you want to." Ennis assured him, happy to see a tiny spark of the old Jack back in those blue eyes. "You wanna play a game; we could do that. Or maybe you wanna go find someone to haunt? We're ghosts now, so we get to do that."

Jack grinned, his eyes full of the devil. "Could we? But who? I don't wanna mess with Aguirre again. That was fun at first, but in the end, it kind a made me sick to my stomach."

"It wouldn't have to be someone we know. Maybe we could run into someone actin like an ass, and give him a hard time. Or maybe we could find someone really sweet and do somethin nice for 'em." Ennis suggested.

"Like give 'em some a that money we still got. That'd be fun." Jack agreed. "You know what I'd really like to do?"

"What?"

"Travel!"

"Travel?" That answer surprised Ennis. "You never talked about travel before. Where you wanna go?"

"Everywhere!" Jack's eyes lit up. "I always wanted to drive all over and see the sights. I wanna see... The Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, the Alamo, the ocean! Every state has wonderful exciting places to see, and I wanna go see 'em!"

"Serious?" Ennis asked.

"Yeah; why not? We really don't have to put a vegetable garden in. We can get all the food we want for free. Why not take this summer off, and go travelin?" Jack sat up. Excited now as the idea settled over him. "We got that great camper. Why don't we just load up and take off?"

"Sounds like fun." Ennis grinned. "So where do we head first?"

"I don't know; I don't really care. Let's just do it." Jack's excitement was contagious. "Isn't there some place you've always wanted to go?"

"Kind a." Ennis nodded. "I always wanted to see that big rodeo in Denver; but that's always in January so we missed it."

"We missed it this time; but we can circle back in this direction come winter, and when January rolls around, we can head for Denver!"

"I guess we could." Ennis agreed with a smile.

"Sure we could. We can do whatever we want. And there are other rodeos around. We wouldn't have to wait till January to see one."

"Okay, sounds good to me." Ennis yawned. "How about we get some sleep now. We'll be gettin up early so we can pack."

"Oh, yeah, right." Jack reached over and turned off the lamp. "You know where else I've always wanted to go? I wanna go see a play! In New York! Up on the stage. I wanna see how it's done."

"We can do that." Ennis snuggled in, pulling the covers up over them.

"And the beach! I've always want to go lay in the sand, and build a sand castle, swim in the ocean." Jack couldn't contain his raging imagination. "There are so many things we can do! How about we hit Las Vegas and take in one a them shows? The kind with all the show-girls. That should be fun."

"We can do it all, Jack. Whatever you want." Ennis placed a kiss on Jack's shoulder. He had his Jack back, and was going to enjoy every single minute of it!

"Maybe we should pack tonight so we can get an early start in the mornin?" Jack suggested.

"We're in no hurry, Bud. It'll all still be there when we get there. Right now we need to get some sleep."

"Okay; you're right. We do need to get some sleep." Jack settled down some. A few minutes of silence, then, "And Disney Land! I wanna go to Disney Land, and go on all the rides!"

"Uh huh." Ennis mumbled, half asleep.

x x x x

The next day as Ennis drove...

"And New Orleans! The French Quarter! I wanna go there! And Gettysburg. Where that big Civil War battle was. We should go there. And Crater Lake in Oregon. I've heard that's great. We gotta go there too."

"Okay, Bud." Ennis tried to get a word in. "What we need is a map. We can do a much better job a plannin this trip if we had a map. We'll find out what each state has in the way of historical sites, and plan it that way so we don't end up criss-crossin the country and missin stuff."

"That's a good idea." Jack agreed. "Cause I wanna see the Golden Gate Bridge, and that big Arch... I think that's in St. Louis. And Graceland. We gotta go see Elvis's home. And Mount Rushmore – where all those presidents faces are carved into the mountain side. I always wanted to see that."

"You know what I'd like to do?" Ennis asked. "I'd like to take a train ride. I always wanted to do that."

"We can do that!" Jack agreed eagerly. "Or a plane ride. You ever been on a plane?"

"Nope." Ennis said as he drove.

"Me neither; but I always wanted to. It's not like we have to worry none about it crashin. I mean... we're already dead. What more could happen?"

"Don't know, Jack. But we don't wanna push our luck."

"True." Jack agreed. "We'll see what all we can fit in before winter. I'd really like to be home by then."

"You do know that we can spend winter anywhere you want; don't you?" Ennis asked. "We could find us any empty house, or apartment to stay in. It might be nice to find us a place with electricity and proper heatin."

"I hadn't thought a that." Jack nodded. "We could even stay in a fancy hotel if we wanted."

"Sure enough." Ennis agreed.

"Oh boy." Jack enthused. "This is gonna be the best summer ever!"

"Not the best, Jack. That'd have to be the summer a '63 up on Brokeback Mountain."

"Ahhhh Yes! That was absolutely the best summer ever. We should go up there again." Jack said.

"We could. But we might run into Joe Aguirre." Ennis reminded him.

"So? If he's behavin himself, we'll let him alone. If he's bein his nasty old self, we might have to teach him another lesson or two."

"I doubt we'll have time with all the other things you wanna do." Ennis said.

"We do have a lot a places to cover. I wanna see the Everglades, and see a real live alligator!"

"I think it might be kind a fun to go to Hollywood and watch 'em make a movie." Ennis suggested.

"Oh yes! Let's do that!" Jack eagerly agreed. "We could see some movie stars!"

"And ride around in the back a some big ole limousine!" Ennis added.

"Oh wow! I can hardly wait!"

"When we get to Denver, you take over the wheel." Ennis suggested. "We'll find us a map, and make us up a plan so we don't miss nothin."

"We can get a train schedule too, so we can get us a train ride in our plan." Jack added.

"Good idea." Ennis grinned. "Jack Twist – you are just full a great ideas."

"I still miss momma." Jack sobered a bit. "I just wish we'd a thought a this before she left us."

"I don't think she was the travelin type, Bud. She seemed happiest just makin do around the ranch."

"You're probably right." Jack agreed.

"She seemed like she was happy to me." Ennis said.

"She was." Jack nodded. "I'm sure a that. I guess that's why it shocked me so that she wanted to leave."

"I think she wanted to make sure that you were happy and settled." Ennis said. "That's what was most important to her."

"Uh huh." Jack agreed. "I hope she found that guy she wanted."

"Me too, Bud. Me too."

x x x x

That spring/summer lasted for the next five years. They criss-crossed the country staying in different places – fancy hotels, empty houses, little motels, or in camp grounds. They hit every exciting attraction in each state they passed through. Some times leaving after a few days, some times staying for weeks. They ate in the finest restaurants, and in the smallest diners. Whatever suited their fancy. They walked the boardwalk in Atlantic City, and stood among the crowd in Times Square on New Year's Eve. They attended professional base ball games, and Little League games. They stayed in Bridal Suites, or little 'no tell motels', and everything in between. They took a long train ride from the east coast to the west coast, then flew back to pick up their camper.

Mostly they just enjoyed themselves. But every now and then, they would come across an obnoxious person and would set to deviling them. They wintered in a cabin in up-state New York one year, and in a condo on the beach in south Texas the next year. They spent weeks in Las Vegas, drank a lot, saw all the shows, played the slots, had fun flipping the dice over at the crap tables, and moving the little roulette ball from one number to the next.

They spent two weeks at the Disney World hotel in Orlando, went on every single ride – several times; then did it all over again when they got to California at Disney Land. And they visited their kids often, keeping track of all the kids and grandkids. They did it all, walking side by side, holding hands; laughing and enjoying life thoroughly for the very first time. The world was their playground now, and they took advantage of every precious moment.

They returned again and again to their little home on the ranch. Staying there a little longer each time until they had their fill of travel; but they never did go into the light. To this day, they are still running their ranch, as young, strong, and handsome as they were the day they were lost to the world, and found a world just for themselves.

THE END

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